Changes in Life
by mystery of the mist
Summary: As soon as Catherine said those two words, Steve knew his life would change forever. But was he ready for that now?  Add in Catherine's fifteen-year-old sister and Steve's life will change even more.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, everyone! This is my third _Hawaii Five-0 _story. It has no relation to any of my other stories for this show.**

**Disclaimer for the story-I do not own the show or its characters.**

**Please enjoy reading this and leave a review! Thank you!**

The full moon reflected against the dancing waves of the ocean as Steve and Catherine walked hand-in-hand along the water. The wind was blowing, causing Catherine's long brown hair to fly around her. She wiped it away from her face.

Steve lifted the box out of his pocket. He was going to ask now, deciding that the moment was perfect. He stopped walking, turning to face Catherine.

Surprised, Catherine came to a halt, abruptly stepping on the sand to send it flying around her sandals. She grew even more surprised when Steve knelt down on one knee in front of her.

"Catherine, you have no idea how much I love you," Steve began. He opened the box, revealing a stunning diamond ring. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

The only response was the sudden outburst of tears. This was not the reaction Steve had hoped for.

He stood up. "What's wrong, Catherine?" Steve asked gently, knowing that whatever was going on had to be serious for Catherine to burst into tears.

"I'm pregnant," she said through tears before leaning against him for support.

As soon as Catherine said those two words, Steve knew his life would change forever. But was he ready for that now?

* * *

><p>"Elizabeth, get up right now!" exclaimed a very pissed off Alexandra Rollins. Her fifteen-year-old daughter was making a habit of waking up late every morning and getting marked tardy when she arrived at school. Even though it was still early September and the school year had just started, Elizabeth managed to get herself there late the majority of the days.<p>

"Ugh, give me five more minutes, Mom!" Elizabeth exclaimed, covering her face with a pillow.

"If you don't get up right this minute you're going to be late for school." _Again_, Alexandra thought.

"Who cares? It won't be the first time."

"I'm sick of this every morning, Elizabeth! You need to realize that you have responsibilities." Alexandra was now thoroughly annoyed. Shaking her head, she walked out of Elizabeth's room and headed downstairs.

"Good morning, Nathan," she greeted her husband with a kiss. Nathan was already in his uniform, ready to leave for work at the Navy Reserve.

"Good morning, Ally. Elizabeth won't get up?"

Alexandra shook her head, sighing as she began to make breakfast. "I don't know what to do anymore. It's not just her attitude now. She's gotten into so much trouble lately. I don't remember Catherine being like this."

"Elizabeth is the baby of the family. The youngest one is never like the oldest. She's not a bad kid," Nathan said.

"I know," Alexandra agreed. "She just makes bad choices. But it's getting worse. We can't handle it anymore, Nathan."

"Ally, we're doing fine-"

"Don't lie to yourself anymore, Nathan. We've let it go on long enough."

"We're not bad parents, Ally." His voice was firm, as if he was trying to convince himself of that.

"You're right. We're not. It's been eighteen years since Catherine was Elizabeth's age. A lot has changed in eighteen years and we're not used to it."

Nathan reluctantly agreed. "I take it you have plans on how to change this situation."

Alexandra nodded. "I was talking to Catherine last night. She said she's on leave for a while and when that's up, she transferring to the Reserve. She didn't give me a reason, but she said she wanted to help."

"So you're thinking of having Elizabeth stay with Catherine?"

"Catherine may have a good influence on Elizabeth. Let's face it, Nathan. We had Elizabeth late in life. We're old in her mind-which we're not, but she's fifteen so she sees it that way. Living with Catherine may give her...I don't know what the right word is. Support, maybe? I don't know how to describe it."

"I understand what you're saying, Ally, but I don't like the idea of sending her away. She's going to feel like she isn't loved or something."

"We wouldn't be sending her away. It wouldn't be for a long period of time and I think Elizabeth would actually be happier there. Trust me, I want to keep her here with us, but I know what needs to be done. I can't help but think I'm an awful mother every time she does something without making a clear decision." Alexandra wiped the tears from her eyes and before she knew it, Nathan had his arms around her.

"You're not an awful mother, Ally. How can you say that about yourself?"

Alexandra turned back to making breakfast. "I don't know what to do anymore. She's getting out of control and I don't want it to escalate any further."

She stopped talking, hearing Elizabeth make her way downstairs.

"Sweetie, I made breakfast. You should-What do you have on?" she demanded, immediately spotting something wrong in her daughter's appearance.

Elizabeth shrugged. "Clothes."

"No, no, no. Those aren't clothes. What you're wearing is just fabric, and a small amount of it."

Elizabeth looked down at her short skirt and tight T-shirt and began to protest. "Come on, Mom, let me wear something I actually want to wear while it's still warm out! Dad, you have to help me! She's being so unreasonable!"

Looking from his daughter to his wife's you-better-agree-with-me face, Nathan said, "I'm sorry, honey, but I have to agree with your mother on this one. Go change."

Elizabeth began to make more protests, so Nathan added a stern, "Now, Elizabeth!"

Slamming her backpack down on the ground, Elizabeth climbed back upstairs angrily, muttering complaints under her breath.

Alexandra shook her head. "I'm so sick of fighting with her everyday. And do you still think nothing needs to change?"

"I guess living with Catherine may be a good idea," Nathan said, unsure of his words.

"I'm going to call Catherine now," Alexandra stated, picking up the phone. While dialing, she said, "This is the right thing to do, Nathan. As much as we want to keep her with us, it's just not working."

Nathan sighed. "I know, Ally."

Alexandra tapped her fingers on the counter as she waited for Catherine to answer. She desperately wanted to keep Elizabeth with her. After all, she was the last one, the baby of the family. But Alexandra stayed on the phone, waiting for her other daughter to pick up.

"Hello?" Catherine's voice came over the line.

"Hi, Catherine, it's Mom," Alexandra started brightly. She didn't want to let Catherine know how stressed out she was over this situation.

"Hey, Mom. Have you made a decision?"

Alexandra exhaled to try to feel stronger about her choice. "Yes, your father and I have decided to have Elizabeth stay with you for a while. You understand you don't have to do this, right? I would never force you to."

"It's fine, Mom. I'd like to have Lizzie stay with me. I miss her."

"You're sure you want to? You can back out of it. Elizabeth can be a handful."

Catherine's voice was clear, letting honesty leak into her words. "I can't say I'm not nervous about helping to raise a fifteen-year-old, but I truly would like to have Lizzie stay with me for a while."

"You have no idea how thankful I am, Catherine."

"We're family. What kind of sister would I be if I wasn't here for Lizzie?"

* * *

><p>Catherine put her phone down after she finished talking to her mother. "That was my mom," she stated. "My sister is coming to live with me. Lizzie's been in a lot of trouble lately and my parents don't know what to do anymore. We're going to try this. I think it'll be good to get used to having a kid around."<p>

Catherine had just told Steve she was pregnant. Thinking Steve would say he was too busy to raise a child, Catherine let tears escape when she told him. But Steve was happy they were expecting a baby-worried, naturally, but still happy. Catherine was relieved.

"How old is your sister?"

"Fifteen. I was a senior in high school, just about to graduate when Lizzie was born," Catherine explained. "My parents were forty-one when she was born. They're the oldest siblings in each of their families, so their siblings were having kids. Being around young kids made my parents want to have another baby. I was eighteen when I no longer was an only child. But I love Lizzie so much. I always wanted a little sister, and it didn't matter to me if I was eighteen years older than her."

"When is she coming to Hawaii?"

"Five days. Steve, I need to ask you a favor."

Steve nodded. "Anything."

"Lizzie is coming to live with me, and since you're a big part of my life she's going to be around you a lot. Will you come to the airport to meet my parents? I think they'd feel better knowing someone else will be looking out for Lizzie besides me."

"Of course." He paused a moment before speaking again. "Are you going to tell your parents that you're pregnant?"

Catherine stared back at him for a moment. "I don't know what I'm going to say yet. I want to tell them because if I don't, I feel like I'm lying to them. First I'm going to tell them we're getting married, and then I'll them I'm pregnant." Catherine gave what she hoped was a confident nod. "It'll be okay. It'll work out."

* * *

><p>After giving a kiss to his wife when he arrived home from work, Nathan asked, "Elizabeth still isn't home yet?"<p>

Alexandra shook her head with a sigh. "I've called her cell phone eight times. She hasn't answered any of my calls. But she's okay, right? She would've called if something was wrong."

As if on cue, Elizabeth walked in. She kicked her shoes off and began to make her way upstairs when Alexandra called her back down.

"What now, Mom?"

"You talk to your mother with respect, do you understand, Elizabeth?" Nathan questioned, crossing his arms.

"Yeah. So what do you wanna talk to me about?"

"I talked to Catherine this morning," Alexandra began. "We were talking about..." She trailed off, glancing at Nathan for support before continuing, "We were talking about having you live with her in Hawaii for a little while."

Nathan and Alexandra braced themselves for what would surely be words of extreme anger from Elizabeth, but her reaction surprised them.

"Okay."

Was it really that easy?

"So you're okay with this?" Alexandra asked, not able to hide the puzzled tone in her voice.

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah. I haven't seen Catherine in, like, ages. The moving far away part I'm not too thrilled about, but I guess I don't mind."

"There's one thing you have to understand, though, Elizabeth," Nathan said sternly. "This is not a vacation. This is trying to improve your behavior because lately it's been out of control."

"When do I leave so I know when to start packing?"

"In five days," Alexandra replied. "But don't start packing without me. I'll give the final say on what passes as clothes and what doesn't."

Elizabeth sighed. "Fine, just control my whole life." She stormed off upstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter. Thank you for the good reception so far!**

**Please review!**

Steve stood beside Catherine as they waited in Honolulu International Airport for Elizabeth's flight to land. He didn't know what to think of the situation. He didn't know the first thing about teenage girls and he didn't plan on learning anything, but now Elizabeth was coming. Maybe this would be good practice. The baby could be a girl and she would be a teenager someday. This could help him get used to the idea of raising a kid.

Steve didn't want to admit feeling unsure to Catherine. She already seemed nervous about this situation and he wanted to stay strong for her.

"So why are your parents sending your sister to live with you?" Steve asked. He knew Catherine had said Elizabeth had gotten into a lot of trouble recently, but he didn't know specifically what she did. He needed to know what to expect.

"Lizzie's gotten into a lot of trouble lately," Catherine began. "She's been coming home after she's supposed to and never calls. She's been going to wild, unsupervised parties. Recently she started getting in trouble at school and her grades have been slipping. That was the most surprising, seeing as Lizzie's always done well in school and never seemed to have any problems there. My parents had to change her school because she needed a firmer no-nonsense policy, as my mom says."

Steve nodded. Catherine's speech made him feel even more unsure. What were he and Catherine getting themselves into?

"Here they are," Catherine announced when she spotted her parents and sister.

A teenager and her mother were arguing. Both had a remarkable resemblance to Catherine, complete with brown eyes and long brown hair. A man walked beside them, his expression showing he was tired of hearing his wife and daughter argue.

"I can't believe you packed everything for me!" the girl exclaimed angrily. "You never let me do anything! It's so unfair!"

"I can't trust you to pack clothes that I deem appropriate!" the girl's mother asserted. "You seem to have a problem with choosing appropriate clothes!"

Catherine sighed. "As much as you probably don't want to hear this, that's my mom, dad, and sister." She walked over to her family.

Alexandra smiled. "Catherine!" She wrapped her daughter in a hug. "Sweetheart, I've missed you so much!"

"Yeah, I'm just not good enough in your place, Catherine," Elizabeth muttered, not looking up. She kept her attention on her phone as she expertly typed away, texting her friends back home.

"Elizabeth, you're treading on really thin ice," Nathan said as a warning.

Before turning to Elizabeth, Alexandra said to Catherine, "You see what I have to deal with?" She closed her eyes to calm herself down. "You know that's not true, Elizabeth."

Catherine realized there was going to be some extreme tension, so she quickly changed the subject. "Mom, Dad, this is Steve McGarrett. We're engaged."

Elizabeth looked at Steve. "I bet you didn't realize you'd be getting a whole freak show"-she gestured to her parents and herself-"when you asked my sister to marry you."

"Elizabeth, I've had it with you today!" Alexandra's tone left no room for argument. She looked at Steve apologetically. "I'm sorry for her outburst."

"My outburst?" Elizabeth demanded, very angry by this point. "Did you ever think that you might be the source of them?"

"It's okay," Steve said, trying to prevent a disagreement. "Really, it's fine."

"Don't even bother," Catherine said. "Once they start arguing, they can't hear anyone else over their yelling. Dad, how do you usually get them to stop?"

Nathan shrugged. "I don't like to get involved. It usually makes it worse. But if they go on for a long time, I'll try to stop them."

It was awkward, standing there, listening to Alexandra and Elizabeth fight. Catherine tried to make the situation a little more comfortable. "Um, Dad, Steve's also a SEAL."

"Really? I was a SEAL myself, in the Reserve now. Are you on leave?"

"I actually transferred into the Reserve a little while ago. Now I run a task force established by the governor," Steve answered.

Elizabeth overheard this. "Oh, great. I got the Navy all around me."

"Mom was a nurse in the Navy," Catherine explained. "Lizzie feels a lot of pressure to enlist when she's old enough."

"Apologize right now, Elizabeth!" Alexandra ordered.

Elizabeth turned to Steve. "I'm sorry. And to everyone else present, I'm sorry I insulted your precious Navy. Please forgive me," she added sarcastically.

"Don't bother, Mom, just let it go," Catherine advised when it looked like her mother was going to reply.

Alexandra moved her glance to Catherine. "You're right. I'm just egging her on. Anyway, are you sure you're willing to do this?"

"Of course. She's my sister."

"I hope you know how grateful I am for this, Catherine. You don't have to do this, you know that, right?"

"I know, but I want to. And Steve says he's going to help."

Alexandra grinned at her future son-in-law. "Oh, honey, thank you so much." She hugged him tightly.

Steve did not know what to make of being randomly hugged. He awkwardly returned the embrace.

Alexandra handed Catherine a few pieces of lined paper stapled together. Each one was filled from front to back with Alexandra's handwriting. "Here you'll find everything you need to know. It also says the things you need to do immediately, like find her a primary care doctor and schedule a dentist appointment."

"I don't need to go to the dentist," Elizabeth protested, annoyed her mother brought that up.

"She's afraid to go," Alexandra explained to Steve as Catherine already knew. "But it's been six months since her last appointment, so she needs to have one scheduled. One of you will have to go in with her. She gets very scared."

"I am _not _scared!" Elizabeth exclaimed. It was embarrassing enough that Mom, Dad, and Catherine knew about her fear, but it was even more embarrassing now that Steve knew.

Alexandra shook her head. "She always says that, but she ends up panicking. Also, you need to enroll her in school. At home she went to a school with a strong no-nonsense policy, which she needs with her behavior. I wrote down all the details on the back of the last paper, so try to find a school most like it. Don't worry about tuition. Your father and I will take care of that. Make sure she takes her contacts out no later than seven o'clock every night with the exception of special occasions."

"Mom, I can take care of myself!"

"I know, Elizabeth, but I want Catherine and Steve to know in case you forget."

Elizabeth sighed. "Whatever."

"She tends to leave her contacts in for too long. She has glasses she can wear."

"Yeah, and they make me look like a dork!"

"They do not, Elizabeth. Stop being so concerned with your appearance. Your glasses make you look very smart."

Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth focused her attention back to her phone.

"Elizabeth has the tendency to use swears often. Don't be afraid to punish her for that or anything else you think she needs to be punished for. You can ground her or take her phone away or something like that, but usually a few swats to her bottom will-"

"_Mom!_" Elizabeth interrupted. How could Mom embarrass her in front of her sister and Steve?

"Catherine understands. She's been in that position when she was your age."

Catherine's cheeks went red. "Okay, thanks, Mom."

"Alright, I'm sorry. I just want to make sure everything goes okay."

"Everything will be fine, Mom," Catherine assured her. "I've got everything under control." She winked at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth smiled in return. She was happy she was staying with her sister.

"Okay. Thank you so much, you two."

"Wait, Mom, Dad, before you go, there's something Steve and I have to tell you." Catherine shared a glance with Steve.

"You're pregnant, aren't you?" Alexandra asked.

Catherine had always been amazed at how her mother knew what was going on, and this time was no exception. "How'd you know?"

"Well you already said you were getting married, and you said it was something both you and Steve had to tell us. I figured you would say you were expecting a baby."

"So..what do you think?"

Alexandra smiled. "It's great."

Catherine was relieved by her mother's reaction. She faced her father. "Daddy, what do you think?"

Nathan clearly did not like the idea of his daughter being in a relationship, and he especially didn't like the thought of what she did in order to have a baby. But he had no reason not to like Steve. He offered to help watch Elizabeth, which gave Nathan a reason to like him.

"I think we're going to have another member of the family soon."

Catherine grinned.

Soon the call for Nathan and Alexandra's flight could be heard throughout the airport.

"Elizabeth, we love you so much," Nathan said, taking his daughter in his arms for a hug. "You know that, right?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to miss you so much," Alexandra stated. It was her turn to hug Elizabeth. "You can call whenever you want to, okay? The time difference doesn't matter, just call when you want to."

Elizabeth nodded, not saying anything as her parents were getting ready to board their flight back home.

As they watched Nathan and Alexandra disappear in the busy airport crowd, Catherine swore she heard Elizabeth whisper, "I love you, too." Looking at Steve, she knew she wasn't the only one who heard it.

"Are you ready to go, Lizzie?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah. Can you help me carry my bags, though? I can't carry them all."

"Of course," Catherine replied, picking up the bag closest to her. Elizabeth lifted another one and Steve carried the last two.

They walked to Steve's truck, loading all the bags in the back. As they climbed inside, Elizabeth said, "Oh, and Steve?"

"Yes?"

"You know everything my mom said? It isn't true. She just likes to embarrass me."

Catherine rolled her eyes, knowing that everything her mom said was accurate.

"Okay," Steve said.

"You don't believe me, do you? Well maybe it's a little bit true, what my mom said," Elizabeth admitted. "But don't tell anyone."

"Don't worry about that, Lizzie. I don't think Steve is going to go around telling people anything." Catherine smiled, looking over at Steve.

"Yeah, I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks."

As Elizabeth stared out the window, she didn't exactly like what she saw. "How can you deal with this? It's all beach. I'm a city girl, I don't like the beach. Did that sign just say ham and pineapple pizza? Where the hell am I?"

"You know, she's very similar to Danny," Steve told Catherine. Elizabeth continued to rant.

"She can go on and on and on," Catherine stated as Elizabeth exclaimed again, "Where the hell am I?"


	3. Chapter 3

**For everyone who commented on Steve needing Danny's help, here it is!**

**Please review!**

It took an hour for the three of them to set up Elizabeth's room. The ocean could be seen from the window. The water looked beautiful. Maybe Elizabeth would try surfing.

Yeah. Right.

Just then Catherine's cell phone rang, causing her to sigh when she looked at the caller ID. She pressed the button to answer the call. "Yes, sir?...Okay...I'll be there in ten minutes." She hit end and dropped the phone beside her on the seat. "That was my C.O. I have to go to the base. Can you watch Lizzie until I get back?"

"Watch," Elizabeth muttered. "Like I'm some little kid who needs to be babysat."

"Considering why Mom and Dad sent you here, yeah, you do need to be babysat." Catherine turned to Steve. "Just ignore her. Do you mind staying with her?"

"It's fine."

"Okay. I might not be back until later tonight, so Lizzie, you're in bed by eleven. Got that?"

Elizabeth immediately began to protest. "What am I, twelve, Catherine?"

"Calm down, Lizzie. It's your first night in Hawaii. We'll set a different time later."

"Whatever."

"I'll see you guys later." Catherine gave Steve a quick kiss before hurrying on her way to the base.

"Are you gonna say something or just keep standing and acting like an idiot?" Elizabeth asked after a few moments of an awkward silence had passed.

Steve was surprised when Elizabeth spoke. "There's a football game that's starting soon. Everyone on the task force is going. Do you want to go?" he asked uncomfortably.

"Do I have a choice?"

"We don't have to if you don't want to."

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't care. We can go."

"Okay. It's not too far from here."

Elizabeth followed him downstairs and outside to his truck. The awkward silence continued as they drove to the game. They met Chin and Kono in the parking lot.

"This is Lizzie. She's my friend's sister," Steve said, not giving any details that Elizabeth wasn't just any friend's sister, but his fiancee's sister. "Lizzie, this is Chin and this is Kono."

A few minutes later, they were seated in the stands overlooking the field. The game had not even begun yet and the crowd was cheering wildly. Elizabeth sat next to Kono and decided that she was cool, definitely someone she could talk to about anything.

"So do you like football, Lizzie?" Kono asked.

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah. I used to go to all the school games at home."

The crowd's cheering grew louder as the players ran out onto the field. Elizabeth was happy Kono was as enthusiastic as she was herself. They both complained when the referee should have made a call but failed to do so.

Soon Danny climbed the bleachers, Grace right beside him. Kono waved in greeting.

After Danny introduced Grace to everyone and ranted about why tennis was an activity and not a sport, Grace asked Elizabeth, "Are you a teenager?"

Elizabeth smiled at the younger girl. "Yeah. I'm fifteen."

"I'm only eight."

"Well, you only have seven years left."

Grace's eyes widened. "Seven years is a long time."

"Let's hope," Danny muttered.

"Can you drive?" Grace questioned.

"Not yet, but that state of Hawaii says I'm ready to get my learner's permit," Elizabeth explained. "That's one positive thing about moving here. Back in New Jersey I'd have to wait longer to get my permit. I looked that up before I came here."

"You're from Jersey?" Danny inquired.

"Born and raised. You, too?"

"Yeah, in Newark."

"I lived not too far from there. Well, there's someone I can talk to about this pineapple on pizza crap."

"Thank God someone else realizes that's just wrong."

It wasn't long before Grace announced she was hungry. Danny brought her to get something to eat, leaving the rest of the team in the stands.

When Steve got Danny's call about someone walking to the field with a gun, his first instinct was to make sure Elizabeth was safe. He needed to get her back to Catherine in one piece.

"Lizzie, stay right here," Steve instructed, using as serious a tone as he could to make Elizabeth understand how important it was for her to remain where she was seated. "Don't move until I come back to get you."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Great, you're following through on my sister's order to babysit me. I'm not a little kid." She turned her attention back to the game.

Steve had enough. In the short time of knowing Elizabeth, he put up with a lot of her bad attitude, like rolling her eyes and disrespect. That was over.

"Drop the attitude." He guessed his attempt at sounding stern failed because Elizabeth clearly didn't take him seriously. In fact, she _laughed_.

"You got a good sense of humor, McGarrett." She rolled her eyes again.

"Listen to me very carefully. You need to stay right here. Don't move. You may not like me, you may not like Hawaii, but you love your sister. Do you want the next time you see her to be in a hospital room?"

Elizabeth looked up at him with surprise. "Hospital room? What's going on?"

"Danny said he saw some guy walk in with a gun. Something's about to go down."

Steve immediately felt guilty for trying to be strict before when he saw Elizabeth appear to become nervous.

"Is everything gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, we have it under control. Just stay here, alright?"

Elizabeth nodded.

Steve left to go down to the field, reaching for his gun.

Elizabeth grew even more nervous (not that she would admit it) when she was left alone in the bleachers. She bit her lip, standing up. She knew Steve told her to stay where she was, but she was too scared.

At the sound of the first gunshot, the crowd started yelling. Everyone was running in a different direction. Elizabeth searched the crowd for Steve. She couldn't find him and started panicking. She had nowhere to go, no one to go with. Doing the first thing that came to her mind, Elizabeth dashed in the direction of the field to find Steve.

It wasn't long before she realized that was a bad decision. Another gunshot rang out, causing people to start shrieking again. The crowd ran fast and didn't watch where they were going. Someone shoved Elizabeth out of the way, sending her in the direction of the ground. The person continued running, not even bothering to say "I'm sorry."

Elizabeth fell to the ground and felt the sting of scraped knees. She blacked out for a few seconds. When Elizabeth became conscious again, her head hurt worse than anything else.

The sound of the crowd became more quiet as they exited the field. Among the chaos of people leaving the game, Elizabeth heard Steve say, "Go get Grace." He was obviously talking to Danny, telling him to go find his daughter.

Soon Elizabeth heard footsteps. Someone was running over to her. "Lizzie!"

It was Steve. Feeling very weak, Elizabeth opened her eyes to see him get on the ground beside her.

"Lizzie, what happened?"

"Someone ran into me. I fell." She tried to get up but fell right back down, not being able to support herself.

"Don't try to get up yet. I'm going to carry you."

Elizabeth groaned. "No, that's so embarrassing! I'm fifteen, I can walk on my own!"

"But you're injured so let me carry you." Steve lifted Elizabeth of the ground and stood up.

"Hey! Put me down right now, McGarrett!" Elizabeth snapped, though her voice was a whisper since she she felt weak. "Damn it, put me down!"

"Calm down, Lizzie. You'll feel worse if you get all worked up."

"Let's just get this over with."

She hid her face in her hands, embarrassed, as Steve carried her over to the area where EMTs were busy at work.

"You can put her right here, sir," a female EMT said with a kind voice.

Steve carefully sat Elizabeth down on one of the chairs that had been set out. She was still very weak and couldn't support herself well. Steve crouched beside her, putting his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder for support.

"My name is Charlotte. Can you tell me your name?"

_Wonderful_, Elizabeth thought sarcastically. Charlotte was treating her like a little kid, speaking in a soft voice people used when talking to children.

"Lizzie," she replied.

"Okay, Lizzie, we're going to get you feeling all better in no time."

Really? Was Elizabeth three years old or something?

"This is going to sting a little, honey. I need you to hang in there for me." She was still using the I'm-talking-to-a-scared-little-kid voice.

By now Elizabeth wanted to punch Charlotte in the face. She was _fifteen_, for crying out loud! _Fifteen! _First she had to go through the embarrassment of Steve carrying her because she couldn't walk and now Charlotte was treating her like she was _three damn years old!_

Charlotte cleaned out Elizabeth's scraped knees. It did sting a little bit, Elizabeth had to admit that, so she squeezed Steve's hand.

As Charlotte checked for any further injuries, Elizabeth decided to apologize to Steve. "McGarrett?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for before. I know I was rude. I'm just tired of being treated like a little kid."

"It's okay. I know you don't want to be babysat, like you said."

After checking Elizabeth for any further injuries, Charlotte turned to Steve. "She might have a concussion. That could be why she's having trouble walking."

"I'll take her to the emergency room," Steve proclaimed. He went to lift Elizabeth, but was met with protest.

"Please let me try to walk, at least. It's so embarrassing to have to be carried when you're fifteen."

"I'm going to carry you until I know you're okay." He lifted Elizabeth off of the chair.

"This is so humiliating!" Elizabeth exclaimed, though her voice was weak, as Steve carried her to the parking lot.

"It's for your own good." Steve put Elizabeth down in the front seat of his truck. "I'll be right back. I just have to go tell the team I'm leaving. Stay right here. Don't move this time, Lizzie."

"I won't, trust me. If I try to get up, I'll probably just fall."

Once he was sure Elizabeth would stay where she was, Steve walked back to the crime scene. Kono called him over to look at the victims, discovering they were from different gangs.

They heard Danny's distinct anger, fighting over custody of Grace. Finally he said he had to go, hanging up and putting the phone away.

"I have to go," Steve announced. "I have to take Lizzie to the emergency room. She might have a concussion. Her sister is going to kill me."

"So Lizzie is a lady friend's sister?" Danny asked. "It must be serious between you two if you're watching the sister."

Ignoring the comment, Steve swallowed his pride and admitted, "Danny, I need your help."

"Someone mark this on a calendar. Steve McGarrett is asking for help."

"How do I handle this? What if she gets scared?"

"What, bringing your lady friend's sister to the emergency room?" At Steve's nod, Danny said, "You can't let her see that you're worried."

"What am I worried about?"

"About how you're going to comfort her if she gets scared. If she sees that you're worried, it'll only make her more nervous. You'll be fine because, as I've said before, you have a remarkable way with children," Danny commented with a sarcastic tone. "But really, just comfort her with whatever she reacts best to, whether it be holding her hand or having her sit on your lap or whatever."

"Alright. Uh, thanks."

"Let's mark that on a calendar, too."

"I don't even know why I'm worried about this. Lizzie just got here today."

"Well if you love your lady friend, by extent, her sister is like your sister. You're responsible for her."

"Okay. Call me if there's a lead."

Steve headed back to the parking lot, thinking about what Danny had said. _Just comfort her with whatever she reacts best to, whether it be holding her hand or having her sit on your lap_. Steve wasn't really the comforting-a-little-girl kind of guy, at least he didn't think so. He was more of the tough love kind of guy. He couldn't imagine what he would do if Elizabeth started to get scared.

When he got back to his truck, Elizabeth was sitting where he had left her.

"My sister is going to be so pissed," Elizabeth declared as Steve got into the driver's seat. "Don't worry. It wasn't your fault. She just won't see it that way at first. And can we not go to the emergency room?"

"You need to get checked for a concussion."

"I thought you were just saying you would take me to the ER so we could get away from over there!"

Steve pulled the truck into the street. "I'm taking you to the hospital right now. End of discussion."

"No, not end of discussion, because I'm not going. You're not my parent and you can't force me."

"But I'm your guardian for the time being, so you have to listen to me. And your head hurts, doesn't it?"

Elizabeth sighed. "Yeah, it does."

"Don't you want to make sure it's okay?"

Sighing again, Elizabeth said, "I guess so. It does hurt a lot."

"We're not too far from the hospital now. We'll be there in two minutes, not even that."

They arrived at the hospital in less than two minutes. Steve lifted Elizabeth out of the truck with no protests this time.

Ten minutes later, Elizabeth was laying in a hospital bed, glaring at Steve as he sat in a chair beside her.

"I just met you today and I already have a reason not to like you."

"My concern is a reason for you to dislike me? Next time, I'll be sure not to care."

"You care?"

From Elizabeth's tone, it sounded like she was shocked someone cared about her. "Why does it seem surprising that someone cares about you?"

"I know my parents love me, but lately it seems like...like I don't know what. Like they think it's a chore to look after me. I guess I understand why they get annoyed, seeing as I've been a little, well, out of control recently. I have to admit that." Elizabeth trailed off, sighing before speaking again. "I'm sorry I said I didn't like you, because that's not true. I just really don't want to be in the hospital."

"I know. We'll be out of here before you know it."

"I can't believe they put me in the freaking pediatrics wing. I can't take these bright yellow walls. I'm gonna throw all these stupid stuffed animals." Elizabeth looked around the room. There were several kids, mostly younger than she was. "Why did you let them put me in here?"

"You're under eighteen, so you're technically still a kid." Steve shrugged. "When they told me they were bringing you here, I didn't protest because I thought you'd feel more comfortable in a more friendly environment."

"I just want to feel better. Do you hear how weak my voice sounds right now? It makes me feel, I don't know, vulnerable, I guess."

Steve didn't get a chance to respond because the kid in the next bed started screaming. A doctor was standing over him with a syringe in her hand while the boy's mother tried to calm her son down. "The doctor is just trying to help you feel better. It's okay, Tyler."

"I'm seeing a similar personality with you and that kid," Elizabeth remarked.

"Very funny."

"I thought it was."

Their conversation ended as a doctor walked over to them. "Hello, I'm Dr. Carver." He shook hands with Steve before turning to Elizabeth. "Hi, Elizabeth. Are you ready for your headache to go away?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said, despite being annoyed that someone was, yet again, treating her like she was half her age.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions and then examine you to see if you have a concussion. It won't take long."

"Okay."

Dr. Carver opened the file he brought over on the table next to the bed. "First we're going to talk a little bit about your medical history. Have you ever had any head injuries before? Have you had any surgery?"

"I've never had a head injury. The only surgery I've ever had was getting my tonsils out when I was ten."

"Are you on any current medications?"

"Nope."

"Alright, Elizabeth, let's see what we've got here." Dr. Carver put down the pen he was using to take notes. He examined Elizabeth for any possible signs of a concussion.

"You don't need a CT scan, but I'd like to keep you here for observation."

"Observation? You think I'm crazy?"

Dr. Carver smiled. "No, I'd just like to monitor your condition. A nurse will be over soon to take you to a private room."

"Okay. Thanks, Dr. Carver."

"Thank you," Steve added, shaking his hand again before the doctor left.

"Well isn't this just fantastic," Elizabeth said sarcastically. "I get to spend more time in this place."

"It's just for today." Steve was cut off by the sound of his cell phone ringing. "McGarrett," he answered.

Danny explained the lead they just got on the case. Steve was about to say he would be right there, but he looked at Elizabeth, remembering he had another responsibility.

"No, it's okay. You should go. You have a job you have to do. They're just going to bring me to another room," Elizabeth stated.

"Are you sure you'll be okay, Lizzie?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I'll be there soon," Steve told Danny before putting his phone away. "If I'm not back in time to pick you up, I'll call your sister."

"Okay."

Steve turned to leave, but not before Elizabeth stopped him. "McGarrett, wait. I'm sorry you had to put up with me today. I know I'm not the easiest person to deal with."

"You were fine. You don't have to apologize for anything," Steve reassured her, giving Elizabeth his most charming smile in an effort to help her to relax. He could tell she was nervous but she didn't want to show it. "But you need to listen to the doctor. That way when I come back to get you or see you back at home, you'll be better."

"Me? Not listen?"

"I've only known you today and I can tell you have a problem with listening to what people tell you to do."

"Yeah, I guess so. Really, though, thank you."

"Anytime," Steve replied before he left.

* * *

><p>"So how'd it go with Lizzie?" Danny asked as he and Steve walked into the school to go to the locker room where the quarterback was. "Did she hold your hand? Did she sit on your lap?"<p>

Steve shook his head. "Neither."

"Then what did you do? Steven, please don't tell me you told her to be quiet."

"Why do you think I would do that? Didn't you tell me I have an amazing way with kids?"

"Yeah, sarcastically! You can't tell a kid to be quiet when they're scared. It'll make them scared of you instead."

"I didn't tell her to be quiet. Lizzie was perfectly fine."

Danny looked surprised. "So she wasn't scared?"

"She was fine."

"You're lucky. A couple months ago Grace fell riding her bike and needed seven stitches. I had to hold her down when the doctor was stitching her arm. I've never heard her scream so loudly before in her life."

"Grace is eight and Lizzie is fifteen. I'm obviously no expert or anything but I think it's common sense to know younger kids would be more afraid."

"Yeah. If you ever have kids, and it freaks me out to even imagine little versions of you running around, but if you ever have kids, you'll know what I mean when I say it's terrible to see your kid scared."

If only Danny knew Steve _was_ going to have a kid to worry about soon...


	4. Chapter 4

Catherine didn't know what she was feeling more at the moment-pissed or worried. A bit of both, she decided as she approached the reception area.

"Can I help you?" came the friendly voice of the receptionist.

"Yes, I'm looking for Elizabeth Rollins."

Nodding, the receptionist typed the name into her computer. When a result came up, she told Catherine the room number.

"Thank you," Catherine said before leaving to go to her sister's room. She waited for the elevator, impatiently tapping her foot. It wasn't long before she was on the correct floor, searching for the room where her sister was.

The doctor was leaving as Catherine approached the door. She felt a small amount of relief, knowing the doctor wouldn't have looked as calm as he did if something was wrong. She entered the room to find Steve lifting Elizabeth off the bed.

Steve saw Catherine standing there as he began to carry Elizabeth out of the room, saw the look on her face, and immediately wanted to take away the worry he saw there. "Lizzie's sleeping," he whispered. "She's okay. She got a concussion, but she's doing much better. I know you're probably mad at me."

"You got that right," Catherine whispered back, yet she couldn't help smiling at the sight of Steve holding Elizabeth. Her sister was small for her age, making her seem even younger in Steve's strong arms. "But I think I'm over it. I see you've been taking good care of her."

Steve sighed. "I don't know if that's what you'd call it."

Catherine laughed, and even though it was quiet in order to not wake Elizabeth up, Steve loved the sound of it.

"I didn't know it was this complicated to raise a child," Catherine stated as they made their way to the elevator. She pushed the button for the ground floor. "I mean it's not like Lizzie can't do things for herself, but at the same time she's dependent on us to take care of her. So how was your day with her?"

"She was..." Steve paused, not knowing exactly how to describe the day. "Well we started off at a football game. That's how we got here."

"Oh, no, she didn't get in a fight with anyone, did she?" Catherine sighed, shaking her head. "Lizzie goes head to head with anyone who says she's wrong. Please don't tell me she argued a call with someone she didn't even know."

"It was nothing like that," Steve assured her. "It was a gang war that was brought into the public. People were running everywhere at the sound of gunshots. Someone pushed Lizzie away and sent her to the ground. Then I carried her to get checked over by an EMT, and she didn't like either thing. She said it was embarrassing to have to be carried and that the EMT was treating her like a little kid."

"That sounds like me sister," Catherine pointed out knowingly. "But she's okay, right?"

By now they were walking out the hospital doors, Elizabeth still asleep in Steve's arms. "Yes. I had to go work on the case for a little bit, but when I came back, the doctor said Lizzie could take Tylonel if she felt any pain. She has a follow up appointment scheduled."

Catherine smiled. "You really did take care of things." She couldn't help but think this was their future. They were going to be parents soon, and Steve holding Elizabeth made her realize they would be responsible for another life.

"Why don't we just take your truck? We can get my car in the morning," Catherine said, walking into the parking lot. "I shouldn't need to drive anywhere tomorrow morning, seeing as it will be Sunday, unless my C.O. calls me in again."

"Okay." Steve unlocked the doors to the truck, carefully putting Elizabeth in the back seat.

Her eyes fluttered open. "Steve? Are we going home?"

"Go back to sleep, Lizzie," Catherine instructed gently.

"Catherine? Don't be mad at Steve. It was my fault. I didn't listen to him when he told me to stay where I was."

"It's okay, Lizzie, I'm not mad. Just go to sleep."

"Yeah, honey, go back to sleep," Steve added.

Did Catherine really just hear what she thought she heard? She turned her head to look at Steve, who was making his way to the driver's seat. She climbed in the truck as well, looking back to see her sister was already asleep again.

"I need you to tell me if what I just witnessed was my imagination or not," Catherine stated.

"What did you just witness?" Steve asked, even though he had a pretty good idea that Catherine was talking about what he said to Elizabeth.

"I'm not sure if my brain decided to mess with me or something, but I'm almost positive I just heard my tougher than tough Navy SEAL fiance use the word 'honey.' Can you confirm that or was my mind playing a trick on me?"

Steve shrugged. "I'm a very loving and caring person."

"Oh, yes, I agree that hanging someone off of a roof is a great way of showing love and care." Catherine's voice took on a sarcastic tone as she described the details of a case Steve had told her about.

"What, you don't find me to be a loving and caring person?"

"Really, though, I don't get how one second you can be kicking some serious ass and then the next second you're, as you say, loving and caring. So what's with all this comfort that you're suddenly giving?"

Sighing, Steve said, "You're going to think it's stupid."

Catherine shook her head. "I promise I won't."

"When you told me Lizzie was coming to Hawaii, I was really worried but I didn't want to tell you. So I went on the Internet and read a parenting article. It's important to show that you care." Seeing Catherine smiling, Steve remarked, "See, you think it's stupid."

"No, not at all. I think it's really nice," Catherine said as they arrived home.

Steve pulled into the driveway. He got out of the truck and lifted Elizabeth out of the back. Catherine followed him inside.

Elizabeth opened her eyes when she felt herself being carried again. She looked up to see Steve holding her and Catherine beside them. "Can you please tell me what you have against me walking, McGarrett?"

"You fell asleep on the way home," Steve explained, beginning to go upstairs. "Instead of waking you up, I carried you inside."

"Can you put me down now?"

Steve placed Elizabeth on her feet, keeping a hand on her shoulder for support. "Are you okay to walk?"

Elizabeth nodded. "I'm gonna go to sleep now. I'm really tired."

"Okay. Come get me if you need anything," Catherine said before her sister went upstairs.

* * *

><p>Elizabeth woke up early on Sunday, the light of the morning sun slipping through the edges of the blinds on the window. For a moment she was scared, forgetting where she was. The room was strange to her and she could tell the sheets on the bed were light gray, contrasting to the purple sheets she was used to waking up to. It took Elizabeth a moment to realize she just spent her first night in Hawaii. She was most likely the only person in the house that was awake. Elizabeth was used to being up earlier than her parents, and it would probably be the same here.<p>

Yesterday had been crazy and eventful, yet it was only the first day. What did this mean for the rest of the time Elizabeth spent here?

She swung her feet over the side of the bed, yawning and stretching a bit before rising to her feet. Elizabeth walked over to the window and opened the blinds to reveal the view of the beach. She sighed, wishing that, despite the beauty of the Hawaiian scenery, she was back home in New Jersey.

Elizabeth had been happy to find out that someone else was from Jersey. Danny also seemed to wish he was back home. At least he agreed with her about pineapple on pizza being completely and utterly wrong.

Moving to Hawaii meant going to a new school and having to make new friends. Elizabeth hadn't thought about that at all yet, and the realization just hit her. It was hard enough to make new friends but now she was the new kid and didn't know anyone.

The only good thing about living here was getting to see her sister. Catherine was cool and always there for her. That was the reason Elizabeth did not complain when her parents announced she'd be moving to live with her sister.

And then there was McGarrett. Stubborn was the best word to describe him (though Elizabeth had to admit she had that quality as well). She could tell he felt awkward around kids. That would have to change soon since there was a baby on the way.

That was another thing. The baby. Elizabeth was going to be an aunt. _Auntie Lizzie_, she silently said to herself, smiling at the thought. Elizabeth really didn't know what to think about the baby, but she guessed she was happy.

Elizabeth became alert when she heard the back door open. She thought she was the only one awake, so why was the door opening? She was surprised to find Catherine and Steve walking hand-in-hand to the ocean, the former laughing at something the latter said. Apparently Elizabeth wasn't the only one awake.

She walked downstairs, heading out the door to join Steve and Catherine. The sun was strong, even in the early morning hours.

"Hey, Lizzie," Catherine greeted when she saw her sister walking over to them. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah," Elizabeth responded tersely, not liking where the conversation was going. She knew how Catherine could worry over anything, and she would freak out if she got even the slightest idea Elizabeth was in any pain from the concussion.

"You can drop the attitude."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Catherine, you're my sister, not my mother. Let it go."

"What did I just say, Elizabeth?"

"Wow, Catherine called me Elizabeth and not Lizzie. I'm in trouble now!" Elizabeth's tone was sarcastic, again rolling her eyes.

Catherine turned to face Steve. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"I'd say leave me alone," Elizabeth spoke up. "I don't even know why I bothered to come out here."

As her little sister turned around to leave, Catherine tried to stop her. "Lizzie, get back here. I mean it, Elizabeth, get back here right now!"

"Ugh, just let it go!"

"What am I supposed to do, Steve? I was wrong; I can't handle her."

"She's a fifteen-year-old girl, Cath. You had no idea what to expect."

Catherine sighed, hesitating before saying, "I'm going to try something. Elizabeth, you haven't even been here for twenty-four hours and I'm already sick of your attitude! You're grounded!" Her voice was louder at the end in order to get her sister's attention.

It worked. Elizabeth stormed over, anger in her steps. "What the hell, Catherine?"

"You heard me, Elizabeth. Grounded. A week."

"Well, then, Catherine, your plan backfired because I just came to Hawaii and there's nothing you can ground me from!" Feeling like she won her battle, Elizabeth crossed her arms, getting ready to walk away again.

"Oh, yeah? What about that phone that you just can't seem to put down?"

Elizabeth's eyes grew wide, suddenly realizing she'd be without her cell phone for a week. "No, no, no! You can't do that, Catherine!"

"Really? And why not? I'm your guardian. What I say goes."

"My phone is the only connection I have to everyone back home! You can't take it away! You're such a bitch!"

"What did you just say?"

Determined to keep her confidence, Elizabeth said, "You heard me."

"I'm asking you to repeat what you just said."

The fifteen-year-old's confidence was slipping away under her sister's gaze. "Look, Catherine, I'm sorry for giving you attitude."

"Yes, because calling me a bitch really proves that you're sorry," Catherine pointed out sarcastically. "Just go back inside. You want to be left alone, don't you?"

"Fine." Elizabeth turned around quickly, her hair blowing in the wind behind her. She practically ran back to the house, immediately picking up the phone dialing a long distance number that was second nature to her.

"Hello?" answered a woman's voice.

"Mom? It's Lizzie."

"Elizabeth! How are you? I was hoping you'd call and tell me how you're doing!" The smile in Alexandra's voice was evident, clearly happy to be hearing from her daughter.

"I'm fine," Elizabeth replied, not giving any details of her hospital stay in order to keep her mother from getting worried. "But Catherine's being totally unreasonable."

"Oh, really? And what is she doing that's so unreasonable?"

"She grounded me! A week without my phone, Mom!"

Alexandra sighed. "Well you know, honey, that might be good for you. You're addicted to that phone of yours."

"Mom, you're missing the point here! Catherine, and I guess I was wrong about her being a cool older sister, _grounded me! _She grounded me for a week!"

"Calm down, Elizabeth. Catherine had to have had a reason to ground you. She never does anything without reason."

"Your my mother! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Sweetheart, you're getting all worked up-"

"Don't tell me I'm getting all worked up!"

"Listen to yourself, Elizabeth. Don't say anything else until you calm down."

Elizabeth counted backwards from ten, taking in a deep breath. "She says I gave her attitude."

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth, but I don't find that hard to believe. And don't interupt me," Alexandra warned when Elizabeth started to cut her off. "I know this isn't what you want to hear, but you have to listen to Catherine, and Steve as well. Please tell me you're not driving the poor boy crazy?"

"He has no idea what he's doing, Mom."

"Just don't scare him, okay? He's going to be a father soon, and the last thing he needs is to see how sweet, innocent little babies-who don't talk back, I might add-can turn into-"

"Into me? I understand, Mom."

"I was going to say how babies who don't talk back can turn into kids who always talk back. So yes, into you, Elizabeth."

"I do _not_ talk back!"

"Yeah, not much." Alexandra laughed, and Elizabeth could picture her mother shaking her head with a knowing smile on her face.

Just then the door opened, and Catherine, followed closely by Steve, came into the room. "Elizabeth, I told you that you were grounded! Who are you talking to?"

"Relax, Catherine, I'm just talking to Mom. Actually, we're talking about how you very unfairly grounded me."

"Give your sister the phone, Elizabeth," Alexandra instructed.

Sighing, Elizabeth pulled the phone away from her ear and handed it to Catherine. "Mom wants to talk to you. Enjoy that."

Taking the phone, Catherine said, "Hi, Mom. I take it you've had an interesting conversation with Lizzie."

"Interesting is a good word for it. But whatever you do, don't go back on your word. You've already grounded Elizabeth and if you let her manipulate you into removing her punishment, she'll think you won't stick to what you say."

"Don't go back on my word. Got it. Did Lizzie tell you she got a concussion yesterday?"

Alexandra was silent. Although Catherine considered the times when her mother was lecturing her to be the worst moments of growing up, the silence was possibly worse. It gave no indication of what was going to happen next.

"Mom? Are you still there?"

"I send my youngest baby to live with my first baby for not even a day and said youngest baby has already been injured?"

"Why did you tell her that, Catherine?" Elizabeth demanded, reaching to grab the phone away.

"Go away," Catherine whispered as she pushed the hand away, still listening to her mom.

"-wasn't a good idea to send Elizabeth to live with you."

"No, no, no, Mom, it's fine! This was nothing to do with any of us. Lizzie's fine, I promise you she's doing much better. I'll call you if anything changes. Talk to you later, love you, bye!"

She hung up the phone before one of her mother's famous lectures could ring through her ears. "Thank you so much for letting me be the one to tell Mom that you're injured. Just thanks so much." Catherine slammed the phone down.

"Well it's not like I wanted you to tell her!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "In fact, I'd rather she didn't know at all!"

"You need to be responsible."

Elizabeth put her hands on her hips, adding her signature rolling of her eyes. "_Responsible? _So that's your big solution to everything?"

"I'm just saying that if you don't want people to treat you like a little kid, maybe you should try being responsible."

"Whatever, Catherine."

"Don't even think about walking away." Catherine could easily predict her sister's next move and quickly prevented it. "You're staying with us for the rest of the day. We're going shopping."

"We are?" Steve and Elizabeth asked at the same time, both with a tone clearly saying they did not want to.

"Yes, we are. I expect both of you ready to go in five minutes."

True to her word, Catherine led the way out the door when five minutes had passed. "Quit complaining, you two, we're going to the mall no matter what. I'm going to need maternity clothes and Lizzie, I know you don't like the clothes Mom packed for you."

"She packed me, like, all skirts and dresses! The only skirt I'll wear is a jean skirt I had back home that Mom made me get rid of because, apparently, it was too short."

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me," Catherine began, "Steve and I have the final say in what is appropriate for you to wear."

"Yeah, I'm sure he wants to look at clothes all day! McGarrett, tell her you don't want to!"

"No, tell her you don't care, Steve!"

"Don't tell him what to say, Catherine!"

"You started it, Elizabeth!"

"I'll do whatever you want," Steve interjected, trying to put an end to the fight. "You don't have to fight over it."

But Elizabeth never backed down from a fight until she got the last word. "_She _started it! _She _was the one that wanted to go to the mall in the first place! It's _her _fault! _She_-"

Her rant was silenced when Steve said, "Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth knew that tone well. Her father, Admiral Nathan Rollins of the United States Navy, used that same voice whenever he was lecturing Elizabeth. Now Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett, also of the United States Navy, had the same tone. _What, do they teach you how to talk like that in SEAL school or something? _Elizabeth thought, but nevertheless stopped speaking. She knew the Navy voice was serious.

"I know you don't want to go to the mall. Trust me when I tell you I understand." He turned to look at Catherine who was glaring at him when she heard the last part. "But I'll go anywhere Cat wants me to go. But you're grounded and now you have to do what your sister tells you. Now you know for next time not to get yourself grounded in the first place. Do you understand?"

"Aye, aye, sir."

"Wow," Catherine said. "I'm impressed."

"Why's that?" Steve asked.

"After a day of knowing Lizzie, you already have her obeying orders. She hasn't managed to scare you off yet."

"Hey!" Elizabeth protested from the backseat.

Catherine smiled. "It's true, Elizabeth. You know it is."


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and for reading this story! Lizzie has been the main focus for a while, which I did not intend. The story is supposed to be about Steve and Catherine's baby and I added Lizzie into the mix so they could get a picture of what raising a child is like. The first few chapters (including this one) have been Lizzie-centric in order to introduce the character. She will not be the main focus in every chapter after this, but she'll always make an appearance. She's a major character in the story and will continue to be, just not the main character. Steve and Catherine are the main characters. Lizzie will not be gone from the story. She'll be in every chapter and she'll still always be sure to say what's on her mind (of course).**

"We've been here for an hour," Lizzie complained as Catherine decided to go in another store.

"An hour is not enough time for shopping. Quit complaining. At least you don't have to hold the bags," Catherine pointed out.

"Yeah, that's what he's for." Lizzie grinned, looking at Steve who was struggling to hold everything.

"Seriously, Cat, haven't we been here for a while?" Steve asked as stopped a bag from falling to the ground.

Catherine sighed. "Neither of you appreciate shopping."

"What's there to appreciate? Being dragged to every store?" Lizzie rolled her eyes, of course.

"How about being forced to carry all the bags? I don't appreciate that."

Soon Catherine gave into their complaining. She wanted to shop and she didn't want to hear them whining while she did so. "Okay, you two can go bring everything out to the truck. Oh, that reminds me, we forgot to pick up my car. Anyway, come back when you're done. I'll probably still be in here."

"I bet you will be," Lizzie muttered under her breath, but loud enough for Catherine to hear.

"Aren't you grounded for mouthing off, Elizabeth?"

_There she goes again, playing Mom_, Lizzie thought. "Whatever."

"And if you weren't grounded, you would've been able to stay home. So I suggest you stop talking back and take the chance to leave the mall for a little bit."

"Anything for you, my dear sister," Lizzie said sarcastically.

With one last warning glare at her sister, Catherine turned back to shopping.

"Let's leave while we have the chance, McGarrett." Lizzie dragged him by his arm out of the store.

"Hey, careful! I might drop one of these and then your sister will yell at me!"

Lizzie couldn't help laughing. "Are you afraid of Catherine? I see who wears the pants in that relationship."

"She can be mean."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

It took them a few more minutes to reach Steve's truck. He stuffed the bags in the backseat. "I'm not carrying anything else."

"Yeah, until we go back there and Catherine hands you twelve more bags. She shops way too much. Oh, by the way, give me my phone."

"What are you talking about?"

Lizzie sighed. "Don't act stupid, McGarrett. Although being stupid probably comes naturally to you. You don't even have to act."

"I'm not stupid."

"Great comeback." Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I saw Catherine give you my phone before we left."

"She grounded you. She said no phone."

"And you're going to listen to everything she says? Come on, give me my phone."

"You're grounded, Elizabeth. You're not allowed to use your phone for a week." Steve tried to use a tone that left no room for arguement, but Lizzie never backed down easily.

"Come on, McGarrett! It's not fair! I get sent to this island, totally isolated from everything I know. The least you can do is give me back the only source of communication I have to my home!"

Steve sighed. "Lizzie, I know this is probably hard for you, but I can't go against what Catherine said."

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be? Life goes on according to Catherine?"

"Lose the attitude."

Lizzie faced forward and started to walk towards the mall. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that. I'm going to pretend you didn't just tell me what to do. I'm seriously resisting the urge to punch you in the face right now and give you a fucking black eye!"

"Watch your language, Elizabeth."

Lizzie turned around to face him. "Who the hell are you to tell me what to do? You've known me for a day, not even, and you think you can control my life!"

"Elizabeth, calm down. I'm doing what I'm supposed to do as your guardian."

"Don't give me any of that crap! I'm so sick and tired of being told what to do! I'm not a little kid!"

"Then stop acting like one."

Steve's tone sounded so serious that Lizzie didn't snap a comeback in his direction. Instead she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "I'm sorry. I got out of control. I just don't even know what happened."

This was the second time Lizzie had completely dropped her attitude and stopped using sarcastic remarks. The first time had occurred during the previous day when Steve was carrying her out of the hospital. It was easier to see that Lizzie was, in fact, just a young girl and not always the teenage monster she appeared to be.

"How about we drive around a little bit? We'll pick up Catherine later."

Lizzie nodded. "Okay. We can come back tomorrow. She'll still be there shopping."

"Alright. Let me call her."

_"Steve, where are you? Is everything okay? What did Lizzie do? Ground for another week if you have to."_

"Everything's fine, Cat. Actually, Lizzie and I were going to leave for a little bit."

_"Okay. Come get me in an hour an half, maybe two hours."_

"How long can you shop for? Aren't you bored by now?"

_"I've got some things to do. I'll see you later."_

"I'll be back in two hours."

"She has a problem," Lizzie declared as Steve ended the call. "There needs to be an intervention. Where are we going?"

Steve shrugged. "I don't know. I figured we'd just drive around here. It's better than being in the mall and holding all the bags."

"Definitely," Lizzie agreed.

After a few minutes passed, Lizzie said quietly, "I'm sorry. I probably ruined your life."

"What are you talking about? You didn't ruin my life."

"I must have. You don't want me here."

"I don't mind. It's good practice." Steve smiled, trying to get Lizzie out of the state of mind she was in currently. He was worried; he didn't know what to do.

"I do nothing but cause problems."

"That's not true, Lizzie. Why would you think that?"

Lizzie gave a small sigh and turned to look at him. "Because it's the truth."

"I can tell you're going through a hard time right now. Uh, if you want to talk about something, uh..."

This received a laugh from Lizzie. "You don't want to hear about my teenage girl problems."

"Lizzie, this is the time to get everything off your chest. You'll feel better that way."

She thought about it for a moment and then said, "Okay, if you really don't mind me venting to you."

"Go ahead."

"Alright, so I'm afraid."

"Of what?" When it looked like Lizzie wasn't going to respond, Steve added, "You don't have to be embarrassed to tell me something that's bothering you."

"Do you think it makes me a wimp that I'm afraid to go to a new school?"

Steve shook his head. "Of course not."

"So you think it's normal?"

"Yeah. What are you afraid of?"

"That I'm not going to make any friends. Making friends is hard enough, but being the new girl is going to be even harder. I'm not gonna know anybody."

"Your sister can probably help you better than I can, but you'll be fine."

Lizzie crossed her arms and stared straight ahead out the window. "You don't know that. I've got bad luck. I mean, look at yesterday. On the first day I'm in Hawaii, there's a gang war that gets me in the hospital."

"School is nothing like a gang war."

"Of course you'd think that. You don't understand teen girls."

"That's right, I don't, and I'm not even going to try to understand."

"Since we've reached an agreement, can you give me back my phone?"

Steve sighed. It was going to be a long two hours.

* * *

><p>"You look tired," Catherine noted when she got in the truck.<p>

"I just spent the last two hours listening to a teenage girl's problems. Yeah, I'm tired."

Lizzie glared at him. "You were the one who said I could vent if I wanted to!"

"I didn't realize you were going to tell me everything you think is a problem." He sighed and turned to look at Catherine. "She's so dramatic."

"That's not my fault," Lizzie proclaimed. "That's how all girls are."

Again Steve found himself thinking about what he got himself into. Then he addressed another topic. "You weren't very subtle when you gave me Lizzie's phone. She knew I had it."

"Tell me you didn't give it back to her." When she saw the guilty look on Steve's face, Catherine exclaimed, "Why would you do that?"

Lizzie decided to take over. "Listen to me. Imagine being sent to live somewhere and you have to leave everything you know behind. Why can't you just let me have my phone so I can keep in touch? Please, Catherine!"

Catherine sighed. It was true-Elizabeth Rollins had left her life behind and she just wanted to hold on to some of it. "Fine. But there will be restrictions."

Lizzie grinned. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You do realize I said restrictions, right?"

"Like what?"

"You have to give your phone to either Steve or me every night by eight. You'll get it back the next morning. There's no complaining at any time about this. Deal?"

Lizzie stopped herself from arguing. She knew she was lucky to be able to use her phone after Catherine had grounded her, so she agreed to her sister's terms and nodded. "Deal."

"But you're still grounded."

Lizzie shrugged. There really wasn't anything to ground her from. "Fine by me."

"Maybe you'd like to know that being grounded means you have to go anywhere we go. You're not staying home without us."

"So you're taking away my privacy? Real nice, Catherine."

"No, I'm not taking away your privacy. Let me explain. You've shown yourself to be immature and until I see some improvement, you're going to be treated like, as you say, a little kid. That means a curfew-"

"Are you kidding me? You're giving me a bedtime? I'm fifteen!" Lizzie protested angrily.

"Then act like you're fifteen! And no, I'm not giving you a bedtime, I'm saying you need to be ready to go to sleep by nine."

"Nine? Are you fu-"

"Finish that sentence and you'll be grounded for two weeks, not one," Catherine warned. "And I didn't say you had to go to sleep at nine. You can do whatever you want until you fall asleep, but it has to be in your room and it has to be quiet. You can read or something, but don't even think about using your laptop."

Lizzie had forgotten about her laptop. Why did Catherine have to remember that? Her sister was definitely starting to get some "mom characteristics" now that she was pregnant.

"Can I appeal?"

Catherine shook her head. "Absolutely not."

"Is there any chance I can go on probation instead of being placed under house arrest?"

Catherine took a page out of her sister's book and rolled her eyes. "I don't want to argue with you anymore, Elizabeth. You're lucky you have your phone, okay? Don't complain about being grounded for a week when I could easily make it two."

"Fine," Lizzie agreed, raising her hands in mock surrender. "But if I'm a model prisoner, can I get out on parole?"

"It's a week, Lizzie. Let it go."

"Alright, alright. I'm letting it go."

* * *

><p>The rest of the day was uneventful. Steve had to follow up on leads for the gang war Five-0 was investigating, leaving Catherine and Lizzie at home. He was worried at first; even after only knowing Lizzie for a short time he knew the fifteen-year-old was able to provoke people easily and Catherine became annoyed with her sister quickly. It took some reassuring but Catherine convinced Steve they would be fine.<p>

"So I picked out some clothes for you after you left," Catherine stated as she dropped shopping bags on Lizzie's bed.

Lizzie was laying on the bed on her stomach, flipping through a magazine. She looked up at her sister. "You picked out clothes for me? Stuff that I didn't even see? Do you care about my opinion at all?"

"I tried my best to find things you'd like. You weren't happy there so I shopped for you."

Lizzie shrugged. "Alright, but if I don't like something, I'm going to say something."

"It's your style were looking at, so feel free to say whatever you want, as long as there are no swears or disrespectful remarks that you so lovingly add on top of the attitude." Catherine looked at Lizzie pointedly. "You know what I'm talking about."

Lizzie smiled and gave an innocent expression. "Me? Swears and disrespectful remarks and attitude? Never!"

"Please, Elizabeth, focus."

Again Catherine used that mom tone and Lizzie sighed. She sounded so much like their mother.

Catherine lifted a top out of one of the bags. "Yes or no?"

It was instinct for Lizzie to make a comment to annoy her sister but she stopped herself. Catherine was doing a nice thing for her and the top was from a really nice store, obviously costing quite a bit, so she said, "I like it."

Catherine smiled. Finally Lizzie was being reasonable. This was the sister she knew, not the girl with major attitude problems that stepped off the plane at Honolulu International Airport.

* * *

><p>Steve ran a hand through his hair as he stared at the phone he had just put down after listening to the voicemail from his sister.<p>

"Steve," Mary began, "I'm coming to Hawaii. I'll text you when. I'm sure you're looking forward to seeing me. Who wouldn't be? Whatever. See you later."

Steve sighed. He couldn't help but notice the similarities between Mary and Lizzie. He didn't have to think twice when he came to the conclusion that he wasn't ready to have his sister and Catherine's sister in the same house. He was not looking forward to this.


	6. Chapter 6

**Last completely Lizzie-centric chapter (for a while) before the focus turns to Steve and Catherine. Lizzie will always have a part of each chapter about her, but for the most part, the expecting parents will be in the spotlight. ****Thanks for all your reviews!**

Catherine left for work before her sister woke up. She had to be at the base early; not too long ago she had been reassigned to Pearl and punctuality was part of a good impression.

Lizzie came downstairs at eight-thirty. She was still in her pajamas and her brown hair was a mess. Instead of her contacts, she wore her glasses and behind the frames her eyes were droopy. She was still half asleep.

"Don't even think about making fun of me, McGarrett," Lizzie warned as she sat beside Steve on the couch.

"Make fun of you about what?"

"About these stupid glasses that make me look like a dork."

Steve shrugged. "You don't look like a dork. We're going to enroll you in school."

He was right to the point. Lizzie sighed. "I didn't think we were doing that today."

"Catherine and I looked on different high school websites last night and we decided on where you'd be going. Will you be ready to leave in a half hour?"

Lizzie didn't say anything until she realized he was being serious. Then she laughed. "A half hour? Are you kidding me? I need an hour at the least, maybe an hour and a half."

"Just get ready as fast as you can, okay?"

Lizzie nodded and headed back upstairs. She said she'd get ready as fast as she could, but the warm water of the shower couldn't be rushed, and of course her hair took what seemed like forever to finish.

She took her time deciding what to wear. She was usually the jeans and a T-shirt type, nothing fancy, but Lizzie knew the importance of a first impression, so she went with something a little nicer.

Five minutes later, Steve and Lizzie were on their way to the high school the fifteen-year-old would be attending. Lizzie didn't want another awkward silence, so she started a conversation. "I thought Catherine said she was on leave. Why does she have to go to Pearl?"

"She's still working right now. She'll be on leave soon," Steve explained.

"When she's a certain number of months pregnant or something like that?"

Steve nodded. "She told me she's taking leave when she's five months pregnant. She's pregnant. She's having a baby. I'm going to be a father."

Lizzie could tell Steve was taking a moment to try to wrap his mind around what was going on. He probably never expected to have kids, never really thought about it, but now here he was.

"Catherine and I are going to be parents," he continued. "We're going to be responsible for another life. We're going to be parents. You're going to be an aunt."

Lizzie smiled at her future brother-in-law's statement. "I'm going to be one cool aunt, let me just tell you, and you'll be a good father, McGarrett. Seriously, you'll be a good dad. I can tell."

"Thanks. Let's hope that's true for my kid's sake. You know, this is all just...I'm going to be a dad." Steve grinned. "I don't think I've really thought about that a lot until today."

Fifteen minutes passed and they were in front of the school. Lizzie groaned when she saw it was a private school. That most likely meant uniforms.

"Really, McGarrett? This is where you want me to go?"

"Catherine and I decided this is the best option."

"But that means I have to wear a uniform!"

"So?"

"So I can't wear anything I want. I have to wear a uniform."

"What's wrong with that? Catherine has to wear a uniform to work everyday."

Lizzie sighed and opened the door to get out. "Let's just go."

Steve agreed, thankful to avoid an arguement. He walked beside Lizzie as they entered the double doors at the front of the school.

* * *

><p>"How'd it go?" Catherine asked as soon as she got home. She slipped out of her uniform and grinned at the look on Steve's face. "See something you like?"<p>

Steve nodded slowly, a smile on his face.

Catherine threw on a T-shirt and a pair of shorts that nicely displayed her legs. "So how'd it go?"

Steve shrugged. "Fine. Tomorrow's her first day."

"Wow. I'm surprised she didn't already get kicked out."

"You have to have more faith in her."

"Please. I lost my faith in her when she got detention on her second day of high school. It only took her two days to piss off one of her teachers." Catherine sighed at the memory. "How was her behavior? Any eye rolling or swearing?"

Steve shook his head. "Not at all."

Catherine looked surprised. "Wow. That's so...not Lizzie. Listen to us. We're kind of like parents."

"We _will_ be parents soon."

Catherine smiled. "We should start picking out names and looking for a crib and clothes."

"You do know we have a little while until the baby comes, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm just excited."

"Me, too."

* * *

><p>Catherine paced down the hallway in front of Lizzie's room. She was already dressed in her uniform, ready to go to work, but she was debating if she should wake her sister up. It was Lizzie's first day of school and she wanted to see her before she left.<p>

"You want to see Lizzie before you leave?"

Catherine almost jumped when she heard Steve's voice. She hadn't realized he was there. "I'm not sure. It's early and she won't be happy if I wake her up. But I want to talk to her before she goes. I'm going to wake her up."

She opened the door to her sister's room, expecting to see her asleep. But Lizzie was standing by the mirror that hung over the dresser, staring at her reflection.

"Hey, Lizzie," she began, walking towards the dresser.

Lizzie turned to look at Catherine and nodded in greeting, adding a simple, "Hey."

"You're up pretty early," Catherine pointed out, glancing at the glowing red numbers of the alarm clock beside the bed.

"It's my first day. I wanted to be ready on time."

"Alright. Well, I have to leave now, so Steve's taking you to school. I'll see you after, okay?"

"Okay."

Catherine turned and sent Steve a look of worry. Lizzie was almost never this quiet and she usually didn't wake up this early, no matter what. "Something's not right," she whispered as she walked into the hallway.

Steve turned to follow her. "What do you mean?"

"She's not acting like herself. Just...just talk to her on the way there. Please. I want to make sure she's okay. And can you tell her to get her homework finished when she gets home?"

"Of course."

Catherine gave a small smile before her lips met Steve's. "Thanks, sailor. I love you."

"I love you, too. Don't worry, Cat. I'll talk to Lizzie."

Catherine nodded before she looked back in her sister's room. "Bye, Lizzie. I'm leaving now. I hope you have a good day. I'll see you when I get home from work."

Lizzie nodded slowly. "Bye, Catherine."

Although she was surprised by her sister's behavior, what shocked Catherine the most was when Lizzie threw her arms around her neck.

* * *

><p>"Nervous?" Steve asked as he drove to Lizzie's new school.<p>

His future sister-in-law shrugged. "I'm okay."

Steve told Catherine he'd talk to Lizzie and figure out what was wrong, so he didn't give up there. "Are you sure?"

Lizzie waited a moment before speaking and when she did talk, her voice was almost inaudible. "Do you think I'm going to make any friends?"

Steve was not prepared for this. He had not idea what to say or what not to say. Car chases? Sure. Hunting down suspects? Sign him up. But teenage girls? Absolutely not. This was not his area of expertise.

"Uh...yeah, you will," he said awkwardly, shrugging.

"Wow. Thanks for the support." Lizzie rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Hey, I'm not used to this," Steve defended himself.

"I know. I'm just worried."

"You'll make friends, you'll have a good day, and when you get home, you'll do your homework."

Lizzie sighed, covering her face with her hands. "Fantastic. For someone who says he's not used to parenting, he decides being strict is the best way to go." She dropped her hands from her face and looked at Steve. "Thanks a lot."

"Your sister told me to tell you that."

"My lovely sister," Lizzie muttered with a sarcastic tone as she stared out the window.

Lizzie's attitude was really getting old fast, and it had only been a few days since she arrived in Hawaii. Steve wasn't going to let it go on much longer. "Listen to me. The attitude needs to stop now. The sarcasm needs to go and so does the eye rolling. Do you understand, Elizabeth?"

Lizzie was pissed, to say the least, and she scowled at Steve. "You can't tell me what to do! You're not my father!"

"No, I'm not, you're right. But I'm the adult, and I'm telling you that your attitude has to stop." Steve's tone was calm. He was careful not to raise his voice. "Otherwise you'll find yourself grounded for a longer time than you are now."

Lizzie simply crossed her arms and glared at the scenery they passed. Stupid Hawaii. Stupid school. Stupid McGarrett. Everything in her life was stupid.

Maybe she needed to calm down. _Take a deep breath_, she told herself. _Stay calm_. As she thought back on her antics since she first arrived, she knew she couldn't blame Steve for scolding her. It's just that when she gets mad, she really gets mad. She can't control herself.

A few minutes later, they pulled up to the school. Lizzie stared at the building as she took another deep breath. Why was she so nervous? _You can do it, Rollins_, she thought, trying to be confident.

"I'm sorry," Lizzie said quietly, almost inaudibly, before opening the door to step out of the truck.

"Don't worry about it," Steve replied, knowing Lizzie was stressed out from worrying about school. He gave her a comforting smile and said, "Have a good day. You'll be fine."

Lizzie nodded as she stepped out of the truck. She turned back to look at him. "Thanks, McGarrett." Gathering as much confidence as she could, she turned to face the school again.

She lost all her confidence as she walked towards the building, her first day in a new school approaching.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone! I apologize for the length between this update and the last one. I've been having some computer issues but finally I'm able to use the site.**

Catherine could not concentrate all day. Her mind was focused on her sister. Lizzie hadn't been acting like herself that morning and even though she asked Steve to talk to her, Catherine still couldn't help but worry.

But there was something else Catherine was worrying about. It was a mission she agreed to go on despite all the danger it presented. _You agreed_, she told herself. _You made a commitment_.

_But that was before you found out you were pregnant_, came a voice in the back of her head. Funny how that sounded a lot like her mother.

The baby could be born by the time the mission actually took place, right? That would most likely be the case. Everything would be fine. But would she still want to go then? By that time, she'd have a baby and she'd be married. She didn't want to tear herself away from her family.

Would she go?

"No," Catherine said aloud, her voice firm. She was going to tell her C.O. she couldn't go anymore. Family came first. She was going to take a stand.

She was worried about becoming a mother. She never pictured herself in that role and to be honest, she didn't think she was going to be a good mom. Catherine planned on spending her life in the Navy, _maybe_ getting married and that didn't go as she expected-no, it was better than she thought it could ever be. She was engaged and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Steve.

* * *

><p>Danny couldn't help feeling pissed. Come on, Steve driving his car <em>again<em>? This was getting old fast.

He looked at his partner, words forming in his head to yell at him because Steve thought it was okay to drive out of control. He was about to go into a rant when he noticed the look on Steve's face.

"Is something...wrong?" he asked, not sure if he really wanted the answer because knowing Steve, that reply could be anything. It could be something that would get the two of them shot at. Danny knew that _always _was a possibility.

Steve didn't respond other than shrugging. Great. Super Seal wasn't going to make this easy.

"Can you just tell me because I don't want to be guessing all day."

Steve looked at him for a moment before turning his gaze back to the road. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing. Don't tell me it's nothing. It's obviously _something_."

Danny's hands started to move along with his words, so Steve decided he would stop him before he went into full rant mode. "You know Lizzie?"

"Yeah."

"It's her first day of school. She's really worried."

"So by extension, you're really worried."

Again Steve turned to look at Danny, this time with an incredulous expression. "I don't get worried."

"Oh, that's right. You _willingly _run off and get shot at and do stupid things. I forgot about that for a second."

Steve sighed. "Just forget about it."

"No. I'm not going to forget about. You need psychiatric help and if talking to me about why you're worried is the closest thing to that, then that's what's going to happen."

"I already told you that I'm not worried."

"You're worried. I can tell."

"For the last time, Danny, I'm not worried."

"Okay. You can tell yourself-What are you doing?" Danny yelled when Steve barely moved out of the way of hitting another car. "Watch where you're going! You need to be more responsible! I have a daughter and you have a lady friend and said lady's friend's sister that you have to take care of!"

Steve didn't respond, just kept his eyes focused on the road ahead of him.

"So now you're ignoring me? This might be the best thing that's happened-"

"Alright, so I might be a little worried," Steve interrupted, stopping Danny from going into the rant that he was surely about to start.

"I knew it."

"The thing is, I don't know _why_ I'm worried."

"It's a new parent thing," Danny started to explain. "It's when you become responsible for another person's life and you don't know what to do."

"Lizzie's fifteen. She can take care of herself. It's not a new parent thing."

"Are you saying I'm wrong?" Danny questioned. "I'm the parent here. I can tell you're going through the new parent phase. I know what it's like. But let me prepare you, it doesn't go away."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, not liking the sound of that.

"You'll always wonder if you're making the right decisions, like second guessing yourself before saying no because you might get 'I hate you' screamed at you."

"'I hate you?'" Steve repeated to make sure he heard correctly. He had only met Grace once, at the football game, and she didn't seem like she would be screaming that at her father. "Really?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, but it doesn't happen often. And when it does, Grace usually starts crying a few minutes later and apologizes."

"Oh," Steve simply replied. "So...she doesn't really hate you, she just says that?"

"Yeah, it's confusing. But I can't even imagine what it's like when you have a teenager. Good luck. I can't wait to see how Super Seal handles this," Danny commented with a smirk on his face.

Steve turned to glare at him, causing Danny to yell back. "Watch where you're going!"

* * *

><p>Lizzie looked at the first class on her schedule. <em>Period A. History. Room 208<em>. Second floor. She made her way through the sea of students to get to the stairs. It was obvious that she was new with the way Lizzie held her schedule in her hands as she looked around everywhere to find where she was supposed to be.

When Lizzie made it to the second floor, she found the side of the hallway with even room numbers. Finally she came across 208, the second-to-last classroom on that side of the hallway. She entered the room to find about half the class already there, talking and laughing as they leaned against the desks. Not knowing where to sit, she approached the teacher who was writing something on the board.

"Excuse me?" Lizzie asked shyly. For some reason, today she wasn't feeling like herelf. She was nervous. "It's my first day here and I don't know where to sit."

The teacher smiled warmly. "You must be Elizabeth Rollins. I'm Mrs. Kalani." She picked up a piece of paper from the teacher's desk that was in the front corner of the room. "Your going to sit right over here." She walked over to a desk in the second row. Mrs. Kalani showed Lizzie the paper she picked up from her desk. "This is a list of what you need for this class." She pointed to the first item on the list. "This is the textbook you need and below it is the website to order the book from. If you need help with anything, let me know."

"Thank you," Lizzie said gratefully as she put her backpack down beside the desk.

Mrs. Kalani nodded with a smile before walking back to the front of the classroom.

Lizzie sat on the chair behind the desk. She folded the paper in half, sliding it into the front pocket of her backpack. She could sense people were trying to hide the fact that they were staring at her. She sighed, figuring this new girl stuff would go on all day.

Lunch was, in short, awful. Lizzie didn't know where to sit and eventually found a half-empty table. She sat at the opposite end of where everyone else was sitting, keeping to herself. When was this day going to be over?

* * *

><p>"It's time to pick up Lizzie," Steve announced as he drove in the direction of Lizzie's school.<p>

"You can deny it all you want, but you're going through the new parent phase," Danny said for what seemed to be the thousandth time.

"I guess," Steve reluctantly agreed. All the new parent talk made him want to tell Danny about the baby on the way, but he wanted the team to meet Catherine first before he told anyone.

Maybe Danny was right. Maybe it was a new parent phase. If he was going through it now, what was he going to do when the baby was born?

Danny could give him advice, could tell him what to expect when he became a father. But Danny would torment Steve about asking him for advice. Steve could already hear Danny saying something about Super Seal asking the Jersey detective for help.

"We're here." Steve pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car, staring ahead at the closed doors of the school.

Danny looked around, confused. There weren't any people outside, meaning classes were still in session. They were early. "What time does the school day end?"

"Two-fifteen," Steve replied, checking the time as he said so. "We still have a half hour."

Danny nodded, already knowing how early they were. "So why did we get here now?"

Steve shrugged. "I don't know."

"You don't know. Okay. That's great."

"What if they end up leaving a half hour early?"

Of all the stupid things Steve has said and done, Danny thought this one might have held the most idiocy. "What if they leave a half hour early? What, do you think the teachers are going to say, 'I don't want to teach anymore' and send everyone home? They don't let kids out early unless there's a tornado or an earthquake or a hurricane or on this pineapple-infested island, a tsunami."

At Danny's words, Steve realized how stupid his comment had actually been. He really was going through the new parent phase.

"So are we really just going to sit here for half an hour?" Danny asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Steve didn't respond other than pulling out of the parking lot and driving back on to the street. He frequently checked the time, making sure he wouldn't be late to pick up Lizzie.

"It's because of her sister," Steve announced suddenly.

"What is because of her sister?"

"That's why I'm worried. This morning Lizzie was nervous about going to a new school, something about making friends, and her sister got worried. She asked me to make sure Lizzie was okay and I don't think I did a good job of that."

"Definitely the new parent phase. Doubting yourself. I've been there before."

"Yeah, well it's going to happen again." Steve decided he was going to tell Danny that Catherine was pregnant.

"What are you talking about?"

"The new parent phase. It's going to happen again."

If Danny was correctly interpreting what Steve was saying, if he was saying that...no. No, it couldn't be. One McGarrett was scary enough. "Are you serious? Your lady friend is pregnant?"

"I'm going to be a dad," Steve said, a smile appearing on his face. After a few seconds, the smile disappeared. "But I'm not cut out to be a dad."

"Can't argue with that," Danny commented, his tone holding a slight element of sarcasm. "No, I felt the same way. But look at me now. I moved across the country so I could see Grace. Just wait until you feel what it's like."

Steve nodded, listening to Danny's words again in his head. After a minute he said, "Alright, it's time to pick up Lizzie."

Danny decided he needed to meet the mother of Steve's child. He needed to find out if she was normal or if she was like Steve. And if she was anything like her sister, like Lizzie...he didn't even want to think about that.

"She's already outside," Steve observed when they pulled back into the parking lot. "She doesn't look happy. Her sister's going to kill me." He opened the door and stepped out of the car, leaning against it as he gave Lizzie a small wave to let her know where they were.

Lizzie slowly walked over to the Camaro, her head slightly down with a small frown on her face.

"Hey, Lizzie," Steve greeted, taking her backpack for her. "How was your day?"

She shrugged and with a sarcastic tone, she snapped, "Absolutely wonderful." Without another word, she got in the back of the car and crossed her arms, sending a glare in Steve's direction.

Danny could barely manage to hide his laughter, a smirk taking over his face.

"Shut up," Steve told him as he got back in and closed the door. He backed out of the parking lot and drove in the direction of his house to drop off Lizzie.

"Do you have any homework?" he asked in an attempt to get Lizzie to talk about her first day.

"Yes," she stated simply, still scowling at him.

"Okay." Steve decided that if Danny's silent laughter continued for much longer, he was going to punch him in the face. "A lot of homework?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, adding a shake of her head as well. "I never realized how stupid you were."

Danny had to cover his face with his hands to keep himself from laughing.

Steve, on the other hand, looked like he's going to to pull his hair out of his head. "What did you just say, Elizabeth?"

"I said I never realized how stupid you were. I think it's pretty obvious that I don't want to talk about my day and what you do? You try to get me to talk about my day." She rolled her eyes again, mumbling something under her breath that suspisciously sounded like "stupid asshole."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Lizzie snapped.

"I asked you tell me what you said, Elizabeth," Steve said, his voice firmer this time.

"I said you're a stupid asshole." Lizzie knew her words were going to get her into trouble and regretted saying them in the first place.

By that time Danny had stopped laughing and a look of disbelief appeared on his face. Steve probably didn't know what to do and Danny would have to step in. If Grace ever called him that, she'd be in a _very_ large amount of trouble.

"You're grounded for another week," Steve declared.

Surprised, Danny turned to Steve with a shocked expression. He never thought Steve would try to handle the situation, just tell Lizzie to talk to her sister since he didn't have...an excellent way with children, to put it simply.

Lizzie gave him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding?"

Steve shook his head. "No, I'm not kidding. As soon as we get home, do your homework and then..." He turned to look at Danny for assistance.

"And then go straight to your room," Danny finished for him, the role of a parent appearing on instinct for him. "Do you understand?"

Lizzie nodded quickly, recognizing the tone. It was a tone she heard her parents use before, the stern, warning, strict, you-better-listen-to-me-or-else tone, and she didn't dare argue. She figured Danny was used to those kind of situations, being a parent, and she knew she could push her luck a little further when it came to Steve since he had no idea what he was doing. But really, she should have known better than to call him a stupid asshole. Now she was grounded for another week.

When they reached the house, Lizzie slowly followed Steve and Danny inside. Steve, who was carrying Lizzie's backpack, dropped it on the kitchen table and said, "Start working. Now."

Various sarcastic responses filled Lizzie's mind, but she decided that snapping any more bitter comments would probably earn her another week of being grounded, so she held back the words on the tip of her tongue. She opened her backpack and pulled out a folder, angrily looking at Steve as she did so.

"Glare at me all you want," Steve said with his arms crossed as he leaned against the count. "You're still going to do your work and you're still grounded."

"Whatever," Lizzie muttered as she sat down after taking out a pen to begin her homework. She neatly printed her name at the top of the paper, aware of Steve watching her. She slammed her pen down on the table and scowled in her future brother-in-law's direction. "I can't work with you watching what I'm doing! What's your problem?"

"My problem? A teenager who thinks she's allowed to have a bad attitude and show disrespect. I'm making sure you're doing your homework."

Danny watched as they fought with each other, retaliating words said back and forth as they both tried to win a fight he knew Steve was going to win. Lizzie's attitude was worse than what Steve described. He actually felt some sympathy for McGarrett.

"Leave me alone, okay? You're not the one who's been having a horrible day!" Lizzie pushed the chair out behind her and stormed off upstairs, not looking back as tears swarmed her eyes.

"Great," Steve commented as he turned to face the stairs that Lizzie just went up. He ran a hand down his face, wishing that Lizzie's attitude would suddenly improve.

"You made her cry," Danny pointed out. "Nice going."

Steve was counting the minutes until Catherine would be arriving home.


	8. Chapter 8

When Catherine arrived home a little while later (which actually felt like a whole week later to Steve), she was filled in on everything that happened when Lizzie came home from school. Her sister's attitude didn't come as much of a shock.

"I'm going to go talk to her," Catherine stated, standing up straight from where she had been leaning against the island in the kitchen. She took a few steps towards the stairs, an unsure sort of look on her face.

"Do you want me to go with you? Maybe she'll listen better if it's both of us talking to her," Steve guessed with a shrug.

Catherine shook her head as she sighed. "No, that's okay. I have to do this on my own. You've been the parent ever since she got here. But me? I haven't done much. If I'm going to be a mom soon, I need to get used to this. She's my sister; I shouldn't be afraid to talk to her. You've been great at this parenting thing, Steve. It's time for me to take the lead and set an example for her."

Steve nodded, walking forward to be directly in front of Catherine. He leaned down to place a quick kiss on her lips. "Alright, Cath, but if you need me-"

"You'll be right here. I know, Steve."

She smiled as she began her way to the stairs. As she ascended them with the destination of Lizzie's room ahead, she took a deep breath to prepare herself. Very soon she was going to be a mother and she knew she had to get accustomed to being in these kinds of situations.

Catherine thought back to the missions she had been on in her career with the Navy. None of them seemed to compare to parenting. This was a whole new concept for her, and it seemed to be a lot scarier than anything else.

An awful thought took over Catherine's mind. What if she wasn't meant to be a mother? She had to stop on the top step of the stairs when those words passed through her head. What if she turned out to be a terrible mom? What would Steve think? What if her own child hated her?

She shook her head to rid her mind of the horrible thoughts.

Catherine decided she was going to make a point to spend more time with her sister. It would be good for Lizzie to realize someone was there for her and it would be good for Catherine to learn the ropes of motherhood.

After taking another deep breath to prepare herself, Catherine began walking to Lizzie's room. She looked in the direction of the stairs, debating with herself if she should go get Steve or not.

_No. You have to do this on your own_, she told herself.

Catherine recognized that this was a solo mission. She had to do it by herself.

Closing her eyes, she knocked on the door to her sister's room.

* * *

><p>Lizzie heard her sister enter the house and she caught pieces of the conversation between her and Steve. She could hear that Steve was explaining the day's events to Catherine. She knew what that most likely meant-another week of being grounded. Great.<p>

Soon Catherine's footsteps could be heard as she climbed the stairs. It wasn't long before she knocked on the door to Lizzie's bedroom.

"Come in," Lizzie called, lifting her head from being buried in her hands.

Catherine, still dressed in her uniform, opened the door and closed it behind her before walking over to the bed. She didn't say anything as she sat beside Lizzie. She sat there silently as a minute passed before she began to speak and her voice was soft when she did so. "Tell me what happened."

Lizzie wiped her eyes, preventing more tears as she thought about the day. "About what? At school or when I got home?"

"At school," Catherine prompted. "Steve told me you ran upstairs crying. Did you have a bad day?"

Lizzie was silent for a few moments. On one hand she didn't want to talk about her day but on the other hand she needed to. She figured her sister was the best person to talk to, so she eventually began speaking. "It was awful. I didn't talk to anyone and I sat by myself at lunch. I felt like such a loser. And then I took it out on Steve."

"He told me your attitude was bad," Catherine stated, but her voice was still gentle. As much as she wanted to be mad at Lizzie, the sad look on her sister's face nearly broke her heart. She knew she needed to learn not to cave into that face, seeing as she had a baby on the way. "He said you had a lot of snappy comebacks."

Lizzie nodded but she was surprised her sister didn't bring up the fact that she swore at Steve. "Did he tell you what I called him?"

"What you called him? No. Why, what did you say?"

"I told him he was a stupid asshole," Lizzie admitted, biting down on her lip.

"He didn't tell me that. But I'm proud that you did." Catherine smiled as she rested her hand on her sister's arm for a moment. "But that still doesn't make it okay."

"Can you tell him I'm sorry?"

"Why don't you say you're sorry instead of me apologizing for you? I'll tell him you want to talk to him," Catherine announced as she stood up. Before she left, she added, "I'm sorry you had a bad day, Lizzie. I want you to remember that you can always talk to me."

Lizzie thanked her and laid back on the bed, covering her face with her hands. She knew she needed to stop it with the bad attitude. The first step would be apologizing.

* * *

><p>"So I'm wondering," Catherine began as she walked into the living room where Steve was sitting on the couch. "Why didn't you tell me Lizzie swore at you?"<p>

Steve shrugged even though he knew perfectly well why. He knew Lizzie had a bad day and he didn't want Catherine to yell at her any more than necessary. "I must have forgotten to tell you."

"Hard thing to forget," Catherine commented, crossing her arms. "You purposely left it out."

"Is that a problem?"

"Yes, it is. If you're just going to let her get away with everything, we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing. I have to hand it to you; you've been doing most of the parenting since Lizzie got here. But you have to learn to put your foot down, Steve."

"I grounded her for another week," Steve told her. "How's that for putting my foot down?"

"Alright, I'll give you that. But you left out a key piece of information. Is this how you're going to be when the baby's born?"

"What do you mean?"

Catherine sighed as she started to take her hair out of the bun she styled in the morning. "Are you going to be a pushover? Are you going to spoil our child?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong with that?" Catherine repeated, a little surprised. "We're not going create a monster out of our child by spoiling him or her!"

"We're not going to create a monster," Steve assured her.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Catherine questioned with a bit of anger in her voice. "Do you even listen to me when I talk?"

Steve stopped himself from groaning. Apparently he couldn't say the right thing. And Catherine wasn't usually like this. He didn't think she'd start acting like that this early in the pregnancy. He had the feeling it would be a long nine months. "I was just agreeing with you, Cath. Of course I listen to you."

"Do you really, Steve?" she asked, her arms crossed as she glared at him.

"Of course I do."

"Alright, then. Over the next week, we'll see if that's true. By the way, you need to go talk to Lizzie."

"Okay." He stood up and before he went upstairs, he turned to look at Catherine. "You know I always listen to you, right?"

Catherine smiled as she stood up and walked over to Steve. "I know," she said as she slipped her arms around before pulling him down so she could kiss him. When she pulled back, she gave a pointed look in the direction of the stairs and then turned her attention back to Steve. "Now go talk to Lizzie."

Steve nodded as he turned around, making his way upstairs.

"And if she swears at you again, you better tell me!"

"I will," Steve called, continuing to walk towards Lizzie's room. He wasn't looking forward to this, but he knew he should get used to it.

* * *

><p>Lizzie was pacing in her room as she thought of the right thing to say to Steve. She didn't want to make it sound like a forced apology because she sincerely meant she was sorry. She wasn't good at this.<p>

"Lizzie?" Steve called as he knocked on the door.

"Come in," she replied, stopping her pacing as she turned to face him.

"Catherine told me you wanted to talk to me," he explained as he stepped into the room.

"I'm sorry," Lizzie said immediately. She was finding it difficult to meet his eyes. "I shouldn't have called you...what I said, you know? I'm really sorry I took my bad day out on you. It's just between sitting alone and not talking to anyone and feeling like a loser..."

She suddenly felt Steve's arms wrap around her. Lizzie didn't let any tears fall as he held her. She just was comforted by knowing someone was there for her.

"Tomorrow is going to be so much better than today. You have to give it a chance," Steve said as he looked down at Lizzie. "Don't worry, okay?"

Lizzie nodded, sighing, before she answered, "Okay."

"Come on. Finish your homework and then we'll go get dinner. Sound good?"

"Yeah," Lizzie said as she followed him out of the room and back down the stairs.

* * *

><p>Lizzie didn't realize how much she missed her sister's cooking. Sure, her mother was a better cook than Catherine, but the food distinctly reminded Lizzie of when she was younger and her sister actually came home during her leave.<p>

"So someone I work with at the base just had twin boys," Catherine said, beginning the conversation once they were all seated. "She invited us to come over this week. I told her we'd be there."

"Twins?" Steve asked and the hint of fear in his tone didn't go unnoticed.

Catherine nodded and gave a small smile. "Why? Does that scare you?"

"One baby is a lot. Two are just...I can't imagine."

"And he doesn't even have a kid yet," Catherine said to her sister, shaking her head with a smile as Lizzie laughed.

"It's a lot to think about," Steve replied in his defense.

"We're going to see them in two days from now. So Lizzie, make sure you finish your homework right when you get home from school," Catherine stated, getting back on topic.

"Twins," Steve said again, trying to imagine what that would be like. He just couldn't.

* * *

><p>"I think I'm getting bigger already," Catherine announced as she sat up on the bed, looking in Steve's direction even though she couldn't see him.<p>

"No you're not," came Steve's automatic response as he exited the bathroom.

"I mean it," Catherine said, laying back against the pillow as she placed the bookmark in the novel she was reading. She placed it on the nightstand, taking in the sight of Steve shirtless with a pair of pajama pants on. Then he slipped the shirt in his hands over his head.

"So do I." Steve walked over to the bed and sat down beside her.

She glared at him, raising her hands in a sort of are-you-serious kind of way. "Aren't you going to ask why I think I'm getting bigger already?"

"Why do you think you're getting bigger already?"

"I don't know. I just think I am."

"You're not, and even if you were, you'd still be amazingly beautiful." Steve put his head back on the pillow beside Catherine.

"How romantic," Catherine said with a smirk. "Since when did my big bad SEAL fiance become human? Not to mention the word 'honey' has been added to your vocabulary."

"Not going to let that go, I see."

"No, but I like it."

"You do?"

Catherine nodded. "Yeah. It's the human side of you. The side that lets me know you actually care about things."

"Of course I do."

Smiling, Catherine said, "I know you do. I can tell." She moved closer to Steve until he wrapped his arms around her. They fell asleep like that.


	9. Chapter 9

Catherine walked into the restaurant she and Steve decided to meet at for lunch. She searched for her fiance and headed over to the table she found him sitting at with a smile. In that moment, like so many others, she realized how lucky she was to have him.

Steve immediately stood up and pulled back Catherine's chair for her. He was always so polite and such a gentleman that it was sometimes difficult to imagine him as the intimidating Naval Officer-turned-Five-0 leader he actually was.

"You're always so thoughtful," Catherine commented as she leaned forward to rest her chin on top of her palm, her elbow pressed against the table.

"What do you mean?" Steve questioned. Throughout his career, he had been called many things. There had been training officers and commanding officers that had called him brave and tough and other titles relating to strength. There had also been suspects he had chased down who had referred to him in some not so eloquent terms. But he could not recall a time in which someone had called him thoughtful.

"It's all the little things that you do," Catherine explained. "You know, like this, for example. You make reservations at an amazing restaurant to take your pregnant fiancee out to lunch when you're working. And not to mention that you actually know how to treat a woman."

"I'm glad you think so," he replied, the smile that Catherine loved appearing on his face.

"I'm so lucky to have you," Catherine stated as a look filled with love took over her own face.

"I think it's the other way around, personally," Steve admitted simply.

Catherine reached across the table to place her hand on top of his. "This is what I mean. Not many men would do what you do."

"And what's so special about what I do?"

"You work to find justice for innocent people who have terrible things happen to them. That's very noble. You know what else is? Taking care of your future sister-in-law." With a look of sincerity on her face, Catherine said quietly, "How did I ever become so lucky? You're incredible, Steve."

"I don't think 'incredible' applies to me," Steve responded. "That's more of a word I'd use to describe you."

"Me? No, Steve. Not at all."

Steve sighed and squeezed Catherine's hand. "How could you ever think that? You're beyond incredible, Catherine. You don't even realize it."

Catherine didn't say anything for a moment. She simply stared back at Steve's handsome face. She was so thankful for having him. She had seen a lot throughout her career with the Navy, but Steve has always been there for her no matter what.

"Steve?" Catherine finally said.

"Yes?"

Without missing a beat, she stated, "I love you."

He grinned, squeezing her hand once more. "I love you, too, Catherine."

As the rest of the hour they spent at the restaurant passed, Steve could tell Catherine was on edge about something. He had a feeling that he knew what this was about, though he asked anyway. "What's wrong, Cath?"

Sighing, Catherine replied, "I'm worried about her."

"Lizzie? Don't be worried. She's strong. She's a lot like her sister in that way, don't you think?"

"I can't help worrying about her. She's my little sister and it's my job to protect her," Catherine stated, her concern clearly showing on her face.

"_Our _job to protect her," Steve corrected her sentence, earning himself a grin from his fiancee.

"You're right. Our job."

Catherine found herself again asking how she could have been so lucky to have Steve.

* * *

><p>Day two wasn't turning out to be any better than the first day. Again Lizzie found herself walking aimlessly during lunch, her eyes scanning the cafeteria for an open table where she could sit by herself. That was until she heard "hey" called in her direction. Lizzie turned her head, surprised someone was calling her.<p>

"You're new, right?" a girl she recognized questioned.

Lizzie nodded, remembering that the girl standing in front of her had been in three out of the four classes she had earlier that morning. "Yes."

"I'm Lauren Barnes," the girl introduced herself.

"Lizzie Rollins," Lizzie replied.

"Come on. There's room at the table my friends and I are sitting at."

"Thanks," Lizzie said appreciatively, following Lauren to a table in the middle of the cafeteria.

"Everyone, this is Lizzie," Lauren said as she sat down. As Lizzie sat beside her, all the girls introduced themselves.

"Can I see your schedule?" Lauren asked. "I think we're in a lot of the same classes."

Lizzie pulled her schedule out of her backpack and placed it on the table. She hoped they shared more classes together.

"We had English, chemistry, and math together this morning," Lauren stated as she glanced over the paper in front of her. "Then we have history and gym after lunch at the same time. Only our foreign language classes are different. You're taking Japanese?"

Lizzie nodded, confirming her words.

"My mom's Japanese. She taught me the language already, so I decided to take Spanish. So today's your second day?"

"Yeah."

"I wasn't here yesterday, otherwise I would have asked you to sit with us then. Sorry you were walking around alone. High school's tough."

Lizzie nodded in agreement.

"I was in the emergency room two days ago in the evening until late at night. I took the next day off of school," Lauren explained, lifting up her left arm to display the purple cast enveloping her wrist. "I fractured my wrist at soccer practice."

"Soccer?"

"Yeah. Do you play? We're short players. You know, small school and all. You can sign up after school."

"I think I will," Lizzie said, happy she was finally talking to people and joining a school activity.

Maybe living here wouldn't be that bad.

* * *

><p>"Don't you work?" Lizzie sarcastically asked as she climbed into Steve's truck after school had ended.<p>

"I'm sorry for taking time out of my day to pick you up. Next time I'll be sure to let you walk home."

"Funny."

"I thought so."

Instead of her typical complaining, Lizzie was quiet that afternoon, causing Steve to become concerned. "How was your day?" he questioned cautiously. When he had asked that question yesterday, the respone he receieved had been sarcastic and filled with swears aimed in his direction.

Lizzie shrugged. "Better than yesterday."

"That's great," Steve said, prompting for more information.

Lizzie nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I started talking to some people and I signed up for soccer."

"Good. You should call your sister. She's been worried about you."

She figured Catherine would have been worried as she pulled her cell phone out of her backpack. Lizzie quickly pressed the proper speed dial and waited for her sister to answer.

Catherine had been waiting for the call since Lizzie had left for school in the morning. Upon reading the name the caller ID presented, she answered after one ring.

"_Hey, Lizzie. How was school?_" she asked, fingers crossed as she hoped the answer wouldn't involve sarcastic remarks from her little sister.

"It was good," Lizzie replied as she tapped her fingers against the seat, hoping Catherine wouldn't make a big deal out of this. "How about you? How was your day?"

"_Good_," Catherine answered absently, her mind focused on Lizzie's positive response. A wave of relief spread through her. Last night, Steve had told her what Danny had said about the new parent phase. She surmised that she was going through that phase as well, both with the baby and her sister. "_Liz, can I talk to Steve for a minute, please?_"

"Okay." Lizzie pulled the phone away from her ear and handed it to Steve. "She wants to talk to you."

"Hey, Cath."

"_She had a good day_," Catherine immediately stated as the relief fully sank in. A smile appeared on her face as she closed her eyes, releasing the breath she had half-consciously been holding.

"She did," Steve responded, smiling as he turned to glance at Lizzie.

The fifteen-year-old simply rolled her eyes. The was exactly what she had meant by "big deal."


	10. Chapter 10

Lizzie stepped out of the backseat of Steve's truck. She was accompanying her sister and future brother-in-law to Catherine's friend's house. Melanie worked at the base with Catherine. She and her husband Jason had just welcomed twin boys and they had invited the three over.

As they walked to the front door, Catherine placed her hand on her little sister's shoulder. She said quietly, "One little display of attitude and you're getting sent to military school. You got that?"

"Yes, Ma'am, Lieutenant."

Her sarcastic response earned Lizzie a glare from her older sister. "That includes sarcasm."

Lizzie just smirked as she continued walking.

The three were soon inside and several introduction were made. Steve had met Jason a few times before during training exercises and missions. One of the twins, Kevin, had stayed awake during the visit while the other, Luke, had slept through it. Catherine was relieved that her sister's attitude had been good.

"Are you still scared of twins?" Catherine asked Steve when they had gotten back in the truck.

"I'm not scared of anything," he stated, grinning at her.

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "No? Then why three years ago on a plane out of some country I can't even remember were you squeezing my hand when Commander Jacobs was giving you a vaccine against whatever you had managed to pick up on a night mission? Did the little needle scare you?" she asked in a mocking tone, smirking as his face fell.

Lizzie laughed from the backseat, not bothering to stop, even when Steve glared at her.

* * *

><p>Catherine groaned when the beeping of the alarm clock woke her up the next morning. She sat up and turned it off, not bothering to hit the snooze button. She needed to get up right away.<p>

Steve also rose to his feet and walked over to Catherine. Smiling, he leaned down to kiss her. "Morning, beautiful."

"Beautiful? At this early in the morning?" She shook her head. "Not yet."

"You always are," he said, kissing her again.

Catherine laughed a bit before saying, "As much as I would love to stay here and let you kiss me all day, I need to get ready."

Kissing her one last time, Steve stepped out of the way so she could walk to the bathroom.

He sat back down on the bed and rubbed his hands over his face. He had a long wait ahead of him to get in the bathroom; Catherine took ages to get ready in the morning.

Last night, they had discussed their upcoming wedding. They decided to have it on the beach and to have it soon. They wanted to get married before the baby was born, with Catherine adding "while I can still see my feet."

A soft knock on the bedroom door caused him to look up. "Come in," Steve called.

The door opened to reveal a tired looking Lizzie. Rubbing her eyes, she said, "I don't feel good."

"Come here," Steve instructed, holding his right arm out to indicate to Lizzie to sit beside him.

Taking a seat next to him, Lizzie raised her arm to cover a cough.

"You feel a little warm," Steve stated, his hand against Lizzie's forehead.

_Luckily_, Lizzie thought with relief. She had been worried he wouldn't fall for her act, but it seemed like he was.

Taking in the sight of Lizzie's slipper clad feet and the bathrobe tied around her, Steve asked, "Are you cold?"

"I'm freezing," she replied, wrapping her arms around herself. "It's so cold in here."

Steve frowned. It was actually quite warm in the room. "I think you're sick, Lizzie. Come on, let's get you back in your room." He stood up and guided her out into the hallway and down to her room.

Lizzie climbed back into bed and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders. How long did she have to keep up this act for?

"I'll be right back, Lizzie," Steve said before exiting the room to retrieve a thermometer.

Sighing, Lizzie sat up. She waved her hand to fan herself. It was so warm in the house, but she had to keep her act up. As soon as she heard Steve walking back up the stairs, she put her head back on the pillow again.

Steve, completely oblivious to the scheme, sat on the side of the bed. "I'm going to take your temperature, honey. Open up."

Lizzie did as she was told and the thermometer was slipped under her tongue. She had the sinking feeling that her plan was going downhill. Steve would discover that she wasn't really sick and she'd get into trouble again.

"If you have a fever, you're staying home from school," Steve proclaimed, reaching to take the thermometer at the sound of the beep.

Lizzie watched as he read the number displayed on the small screen. She bit her lip, knowing her plan was probably ruined. But she was surprised.

"Let me go tell your sister that you're sick. I'll be right back," Steve said as he left the room again. After closing the door behind him, he looked at the screen once more. 98.8. He should have known she was faking.

Sighing, he continued down the hall until he arrived back in his and Catherine's room. Catherine stepped out of the bathroom just as Steve sat down on the bed.

Taking in the look on Steve's face, Catherine asked, "What's wrong?"

"Someone decided she doesn't want to go to school today."

Catherine sighed as she sat beside him on the bed. "What happened?"

Steve held up the thermometer that read 98.8. "Lizzie came in here and told me she was sick, but she's faking."

Sighing again, Catherine questioned, "How do you want to handle this?"

"I have a pretty good idea."

They both stood up and journeyed down the hallway to Lizzie's room. Catherine shook her head at the sound of her sister's fake cough. She knocked on the door and called, "Lizzie? Can we come in?"

"Okay," Lizzie responded in a hoarse voice.

"She's added the voice," Steve remarked before they went inside.

"Steve was just telling me that you're sick," Catherine stated, seating herself on the side of her sister's bed.

"So...?" Lizzie looked from Catherine to Steve and back.

"_So_," Steve repeated, "we're going to take you to see a doctor to make sure you're okay."

Lizzie's eyes grew wide as she stared at him in shcok. "What?"

Catherine, barely managing to keep a smile off her face, nodded. "We've been meaning to find you a pediatrician anyway and we already have a list, so I'll just go make some calls." She stood up and took a few steps in the direction of the door to the hallway.

"Wait," Lizzie said, sitting up.

Catherine and Steve sent each other knowing looks before they both looked at the teenager.

"Yes?" Catherine wondered.

Sighing, Lizzie admitted, "Okay, so I'm not really sick."

"We know," the older sister said, sitting again. "Why were you trying to stay home?"

"I don't know," she muttered, shrugging as she looked down at her folded hands resting on top of the blanket.

"Elizabeth, eyes up when you're being spoken to," Catherine commanded. "And there has to be a reason."

"I'm just nervous for soccer tryouts. If I don't go to school, then I don't have to feel so bad about not going."

"You're not going to go to tryouts? You're great at soccer."

"But I don't know anybody."

"This is a good way to meet other kids," Steve said as he stepped behind Catherine.

"But..."

"No more 'but's," Catherine said gently, a smile taking over her face. "You're going to be great. Now, go get ready for school. No more faking. Got it?"

Lizzie nodded in defeat. "Got it."

"Good." Catherine stood up from her seat on the edge of the bed and left the room, Steve following right behind her.

Steve couldn't help laughing as soon as they were in the hallway. Catherine turned to silence him with a glare. "It's not funny."

"Come on, Cath, do you know how many times I did that as a kid?"

Catherine rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Act sick to stay home? I don't know, Steve, how many times?"

"A lot. And I'm sure you've done the same thing."

"Maybe," Catherine remarked with a shrug before turning away and walking back towards their bedroom.

Steve just laughed again.

* * *

><p>Lizzie nervously scanned the field and the crowd as she warmed up alonside her teammates. It had been two weeks since she had tried out for her school's soccer team and they were stretching before their first game. The other team was doing the same on the opposite end of the field while fans scattered among the bleachers as they filed in to watch the game.<p>

Coach Bradley began calling out the names of the starting players. Lizzie hopefully listened to the coach, but she was just a sophmore. The seniors would be more likely to start. Besides, she was just lucky to have made varsity.

"Rollins," Couch Bradley called out. She proceeded to name the rest of the players who would be starting, but Lizzie didn't listen. She couldn't believe she was going to start at the opening game.

"Good luck," Lauren said before Lizzie took the field. Her arm was still in a cast. It would be another couple of weeks until she could play.

Lizzie smiled at her friend. "Thanks." She then ran onto the field with the rest of the starters. That was when she noticed Catherine and Steve sitting on the top row of the bleachers.

Feeling a bit more confident after seeing them there supporting her, Lizzie felt ready to play.

She even scored the game winning goal.


End file.
